REUNIONS REUNITE ALL THE PEOPLE YOU LIKE, RIGHT?
by mochachocoholik
Summary: JAVA JUNKIEThe reunion of Chilton´s Class of 87'is being held at the Dragonfly,Lore´s somehow convinced of organizing and attending to it...She can´t wait to see the ppl that criticized all life choices she ever made.Wonder who could be her date?
1. Chapter 1

**This is the fixed version of the 1st chapter!**

**All thanks to my wonderful betas:**

**Mrs. OzDust (applause!)**

**MrsDionysiusOGall (cheers!) **

**For taking a look at it, so it would finally be accepted at B&W&R!**

**So…Please review if u can, it would be nice to know what are your thoughts on it…**

**Disclaimer: not mine, and even if I said it was, which I didn´t... how would the law find me! Nobody knows where I live... So yep, it´s all mine! MUAHH- MUAHHHHH!**

**-This story takes place in 2004/ 05-can´t quite decide... **

**-Luke and Lore are still oblivious to the most obvious fact since epi 1, that they belong together (in case u didn´t figure the "most obvious fact"...)**

**-Rory´s at Yale, she never quit... and she only appears when strictly necessary... I´m not a big Rory fan... For me it all ended when she decided to become stupid... after sex w/ Dean... really she´s the only one that can have dropped her I.Q. cause of sex... (oh and for you that actually like her, I don´t keep criticizing her in the story, just in here... I just use the good ol´ reliable Rory for the story...)**

**-I guess that´s it, any doubts please ask away!**

**REUNIONS REUNITE ALL THE PEOPLE YOU LIKE, RIGHT?**

Chappie 1 – Perfect day?

Finally, a day when she could say she woke up feeling good! Nope, not good…perfect! She hadn't slept too much nor too little, she was just truly rested. Her face looked good, the first time in a week that she didn't have puffy eyes from lack of sleep. And she had had a good dream, the one with an infant Rory wearing the Bangles t-shirt that was made by none other than herself! All that because yesterday had finally been that annoying-cleaning-freak couple's wedding!

She felt like she could breathe calmly again. They had been so MUCH work: calling every hour "just to check!" At least they had paid them well…and her life's philosophy was that as long as the money kept coming in, she didn't mind working a lot. Plus there's always the bright side, and for her, that was shoes!

Oohhh, note to self: need to stop at the mall, buy new pumps to go with that new turquoise dress.

She slowly drank her coffee, tasting that perfect elixir, grabbed a pop tart, and was out the door before you could say 'supercalifragilisticexpialidocious'.

She got in the Mocha-mobile and looked at her watch; there was no time to stop at Luke's. She sighed sadly. No Luke's in the morning was not something she enjoyed…it was like pizza without cheese, not good! She didn't know why, but her mornings, days even, were always better when she stopped at Luke's for her chit-chatting-crazy-flirting daily routine. Now she could only admit that to herself, because if she ever decided to tell someone--Oh My!--they would immediately start organizing the wedding! Apparently she, Lorelai Gilmore, had a "thing" for a certain dinner owner (and vice-versa), but they just didn't know about it! Really, the town was so out of it sometimes!

She drove down a very pretty road, so full of trees that it looked like it came from one of those fairytale books. Directly at the end of this enchanted road, she could see her also enchanted inn. Even though they had been open for a while now…the thought of all this being her doing was still overwhelming! Just like her Rory. Sometimes she wondered what she had done to deserve this life. She parked her Mocha-mobile in her owner-assigned parking space- all her doing! She smiled happily while she finished eating her dulce-de-leche (AN/ "milk jam" or "caramel spread", is a traditional candy in Latin America) pop-tart- Yummy! - And got out of the car, carrying some folders she had been working on last night. She walked into her beloved inn and looked around, yep…Just perfect!

She went towards the reception desk, where Michel was sitting on the incredibly expensive chair he HAD to have…

"Good morning sunshine!" she said very cheerfully. Michel flinched. "Isn't it just the prettiest day?" She smiled.

"Why are you so happy?" he asked, not trusting her. Lorelai had been moody all week; she was probably up to something and there was no way in hell that he would fall for it. "What have you done?"

"No…nothing". Why did he have to be sooo full of bullshit? "Just being polite…can't say the same about you, though." She really tried not to grin at that; he would be so mad…hee hee hee!

"Just so you know, I'm verrry polite." Michel put his nose way up in the air, puffed his chest out and looked down at his boss. "But I just don't like you."

"Oh well, can't have everything now, can I?" _He was free entertainment,_ she thought, _well actually he wasn't free, since she paid him and all…but it was worth it._ "I'll drop this off," she pointed at the folders she was holding, "…and then I'll be with Sookie in the kitchen, whom I'm sure will enjoy my good mood!"

He snorted at that.

Lorelai walked into her office and just dropped all her stuff on top of an already big pile of papers; she would finish this later. She could feel the laziness taking over her until-now rested body. But first, she would visit Sookie in the faraway land of the kitchen and maybe get some coffee!

Lorelai was about to walk into the kitchen when..."Lorrrelai…" came the annoying sound of Michel's voice. She turned around to face him. "I forgot to tell you…" He made a very long dramatic pause.

"What?" Sometimes he succeeded with honors in the who-can-annoy-Lorelai-when-she's-having-a-good-day game.

"Calm down…it just slipped my mind. There's a message for you." And as if that was a complete statement, he turned around to leave.

"Well…" she grabbed his shoulder and forced him to turn back, "Would you be so kind as to tell me? Or do you want me to turn into a musical character and burst into a song entitled '_Oh how I would enjoy hearing my message!_'?"

"I beg of you, please don't!" he said in a monotone, "I will probably be scarred for life if I hear you sing." He looked slightly panicked, but still spoke without emotion. Lorelai gave him the death glare she saved only for him and certain others.

"If you insist…this private school's alumni want to have their reunion here…" he said in a voice that still held no emotion…

"Ohhh really? That's great! If we keep having this many events, we'll be millionaires in no time! And I'll finally be able to buy myself a mansion, have a gold toilet and be the host of the hippest party of the year!" Lorelai clapped her hands together.

"Why do you always say things I don't understand?" He started walking back to his desk; she followed.

"Exactly!" she said, grinning just to make him feel more at a loss. "So? That's it? That's all the info you'll give me? When do they want to have their reunion? What's the school called? Is it the class of '95? Of course it is….it's probably a 10-year reunion, or is it 20?"

"Shhhh…please, do you have to be always SO loud? You're the reason for all my headaches…here." He typed on the computer. "They scheduled the party for three weeks from now; they want the whole inn for themselves…"

"Oooohhhh!" Lorelai said delightfully. "I don't want to sound too capitalistic, but I can seeee PROFIT! Uahhhuahhh!"

Michel decided to ignore her. "It's the class of '87…it's neither a 10 nor a 20-year reunion…you're wrong." He glared at her with superiority; she stuck out her tongue in response.

"Hey, '87…that sounds…"

"The now-rich adults that used to be suck-up rich kids say that the school's name is Chilton…Huh, I wonder why that sounds familiar…" He was so caught up in his _mystery_, that he missed Lorelai´s frozen expression.

"W-What did you say the school was?" she somehow choked out.

"I said C-H-I-L-T-O-N, did you not hear? Or are trying to make a funny-funny joke about my accent again?"

"…and you said '87, right?"

"God, yes! Please clean your ears better, maybe that's the source of your hearing problem!"

"Oh. My. Gosh!" Her eyes were now seriously threatening to fall out of their orbits, "…but that's the year I was supposed to graduate…oh no! Those are the suck-up kids I went to high school with!"

Michel looked somehow unaffected by Lorelai's revelation. "That's why the name sounded familiar." He made a triumphant face, like he finally had figured out the solution to a very difficult calculus problem.

Suddenly Lorelai´s oh-so-perfect day had been turned upside-down…She needed Sookie and coffee, like NOW! And not in that order...

She pushed the kitchen's swing door open, went in and went directly to the coffeemaker, which was MAKING coffee! That meant...oh no, she would have to wait! Her day had started off so well...

"Good morning!" Sookie sing-songed.

"Yeah, just great," Lorelai answered sarcastically.

"What's up Hon? Shouldn't you be happy that the week of horror with the super-annoying clean freaks is over?" Sookie moved closer to Lorelai with a pot, still stirring whatever wonder was inside. "They ARE gone...right?" She looked worried. "Seriously, how can they say that MY kitchen was slightly dirty?"

"Calm down Sook, that's not it..." Lorelai resumed looking at the floor.

"Is it because the coffee isn't done?" She waited for an answer, and when she didn't get one... "'Cause I thought you would come in a little later today...and I know you like fresh coffee so I..."

"Sook! Stop. Focus. Breathe," Lorelai said after standing up; she was now facing Sookie. "It's just that I have to organize the Chilton Class of '87 reunion here," she stopped to catch her breath, "At the Dragonfly..." She looked down again, and went to her previous position at the stool.

"'87?" Sookie hadn't quite caught the meaning of the whole...Oh wait...now she had..."Isn't that the year...you..." She pointed at Lorelai, forgetting for a moment to stir her sauce.

"Yep, it's the year, that if I hadn't gotten pregnant...that's the year I would have graduated! And those are exactly the same people that..." she took a deep breath, "…that called me...not so nice names when I had to drop out to have Rory. I don't wanna face them again!" Now she looked on the verge of tears. Her eyes were pleading for Sookie's help.

"Oh honey!" Sookie almost dropped the pot in mid-air, but somehow managed to put it on top of the oven instead; then quickly hugged her friend.

"It will be all right! You have absolutely nothing to fear now; you're successful, and you're smart, you made your dreams come true! Really, I think it will even be good that you can see these people again!"

At that, Lorelai looked up, surprised.

"So you can rub it into them! You know?"

"Maybe..." Lorelai answered in a small and unsure voice.

"They probably think you didn't make it...ya know...in life."

"I know Sook, didn't have the brightest future ever." Lorelai slightly grinned.

"Not everybody has a second chance, but you did; you'll be able to show them!" Sookie said enthusiastically, throwing her arms up and her spoon far, far away in the kitchen.

"Maybe it won't be sooo bad..." Lorelai answered in a not-so-convincing way.

"And you can always cancel it...if you don't feel good doing this...you don't HAVE to," Sookie said in a softer tone.

"I know..." Lorelai smiled; she loved her friend. Sookie was so understanding. "Thanks Sook!" She hugged her friend, then the swinging door burst open. Sook and Lorelai jumped apart as Michel stepped in.

"Lorelai, I didn't finish talking to you...you just walked out and left me speaking to myself...they made an appointment with you to see the place...at 2 P.M."

As Michel was about to leave the kitchen, Lorelai asked, a bit confused, "They?"

"The Former Students of Chilton Association, for the reunion?"

She looked surprised.

"From your school? Remember? You know what drugs can do to your memory..." he added sarcastically.

"I know Michel, I know...Gosh I didn't forget..." Lorelai sat on her previously-occupied stool. "Is the coffee ready, Sook?"

"Not yet, just wait a few more seconds!" she said, trying to cheer her friend up. "Quickly, quickly!"

"Sorry...can't wait! I'll go to Luke's, hope you don't mind, Sook..." Lorelai said as she stood up and walked out of the kitchen.

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It was starting now, the lunch rush at Luke's diner: these were surely the worst hours, very busy. Luke and Lane were running around the diner, while Caesar cooked the orders, listening to the radio. It was just a habit of his: he couldn't cook without the radio, he used to say; and even though he couldn't quite listen to anything because of the loud crowd, he still turned the radio on. So every now and then, when people were busy chewing, you could hear snippets of a song coming out of that kitchen. Luke liked that...

For Luke, this was an ordinary day, nothing different, nothing new, at least that's what he would have answered anyone who happened to ask how he was doing. Because the truth was, today had been a different day...Lorelai hadn't been in yet; he truly hoped she would come, because he really enjoyed his friend's crazy company. He, although he would never admit it to her, was now so accustomed to seeing her every day, that when she didn't show, it felt like the day wasn't the same, it felt like it was missing...its spark.

Now Luke would never EVER tell that to anyone. Babette was always asking why he wouldn't just stop pretending and just ask Lorelai out! Now really, the people from this town belonged to the House of Insanity! He grabbed the coffeepot and started serving refills, from left to right...that was his regular serving order. Then his thoughts were interrupted by the door's jingling bell. He turned around to see who it was...but only saw a shadow run past him, literally running from the door to a stool. Now he knew just one person who would do that, so he looked at the counter and saw Lorelai seated on the far right stool (the only one left), her fingers impatiently tapping the counter. He smiled on the inside. Really, he did have a gruff-diner-owner image to keep up; he couldn't just start smiling at anyone...He went behind the counter, and put the now empty coffeepot back in its place.

"Luke, thank God! Saaaaaave me from this horrible day!" Lorelai said, very drama-queen-like.

"Hi, Lorelai," he paused, "…and no!" He loved how she always pouted after he said no, even though they both knew very well that he would give in. He always gave in...not that she was his weak spot or anything...

"NO? See Lucas, that's not an acceptable answer today, because I just happen to be suffering from a very bad upside-down day!" She almost stood up with the eagerness of her speech.

"First, how many times have I patiently told you to never call me that?"

To that, Lorelai made an innocent face.

"Second, you seem like you have enough energy to go through your...whatever day...I mean if you can give that speech." He made his pretend-to-be-impressed face; she almost smiled at that. No matter what he said, she HAD some influence on him...

"Luke! Need...help here!" Lane yelled from the other side of the diner, where she was trying to retrieve a plateful of fries from a little kid's hand. Lorelai started laughing and received an evil grin from Luke; she stopped. Never kid with Luke's evil grin...

"Mine! Let!" the kid yelled while forcefully pulling the plate from Lane's hand. All the fries that were once on the plate went flying through the diner. Luke grabbed a broom from the back and went to clean up the mess, while Lane was still trying, unsuccessfully, to get the red plate back.

"Just leave it!" Luke said roughly to Lane.

Lane looked questionably at him. "Are you sure?"

"Yep," he looked at the smiling/drooling child. "It's a gift..." He resumed cleaning the mess; he was truly happy that they hadn't ordered eggs. He stood up and went back to the counter.

"Lorelai..." he said disapprovingly when he realized that she had already served herself a "bowl" of coffee.

"What?" She looked up, batting her eyelashes, her blue eyes sparkling.

"Never mind..." Really, he just had no energy for this today.

"You give up too easily...are you a quitter, Lukey?" she said in her baby voice, oh to tease!

"Are you gonna eat? You know, since you're already here, you might as well finish poisoning your body; it will hasten your death." He tried his hardest to look mad at her.

"A little moody today, huh Grumpy?" She smiled at him; he really tried not to smile back, but it was stronger than him. "I don't have much time, so...chili fries?"

"That's perfect!" She gave him a full-toothed smile. "You can now complete your poison dosage for the day!" he replied ironically, but turned around and gave Caesar her order anyway.

"Oh, you make me laugh, burger boy!" Lorelai said, faking a British accent.

Luke chuckled at that. "No, YOU make ME laugh!" Even though he said it as a joke, his eyes looked gratefully at her.

"You know, I was really having a crappy day today, but you made me forget...even made me feel better." She talked in a serious, yet soft tone. "Oh, Lukey, you ARE my hero! Super Lukey, I say!" she said in a high-pitched voice; but looked deeply into his eyes, so he knew that what she said was the truth.

"Anytime..." He nodded, not breaking their eye contact.

They could easily get lost in each other's eyes, just like now, and were only interrupted by Miss Patty and Babette.

"Look at these two, sugah!" Babette said while sitting on the now empty stool next to Lorelai, Miss Patty seated on the one next to her.

"I know, you could just cut the sexual..." she made sure to enunciate SEXUAL very clearly, "…tension with a knife." She looked at the two; Luke looked down at the counter, breaking their _moment_, with an almost invisible blush. "But why would you want to do that?" she said with a malicious tone, and then looked at Lorelai. "Right?" It was Lorelai´s turn to blush.

"Girl, you're on fire today, huh? Leave the kids alone..." Babette said, nudging Patty.

"Yeah, I probably miss my last husband...I've been missing him a lot...You think it's time for a new one?"

"Maybe...a woman can only spend so much time alone..." Babette said, getting into the conversation with Patty.

"You know what? I'm gonna go..." Luke said to Lorelai while pointing in the direction of the kitchen.

"Yeah, I should be going too...here." She took some cash out of her wallet and put it on the counter. "Bye!"

"Bye," he replied.

When had the moment they just shared become so weird? _Oh yeah, when the gossip duo arrived..._they both thought at the same time.

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Lorelai had gone directly to her office after she arrived at the inn from Luke's. She still had some paperwork to get through before the arrival of the Former Students from Chilton Association's (FSCA) representatives. She had to admit that she lost some time thinking about who would be coming to the reunion, and more importantly, how they would look. Were they fat, old, bald, single, married? Maybe Sookie was right: this could turn out to be an interesting experience; besides, a lot of these people could become potential guests and...Shoes! It all comes back to shoes...hee hee hee hee...

She tried to refocus on her work, but called Rory at Yale instead. After some regular chitchat, she told Rory about the whole reunion drama. Rory happened to share the same view as Sookie. Now if her two best friends agreed, she had no more reason to worry...right? Only she kept worrying. Because suddenly all that her brain played in her head were scenes from teen movies, the ones where the good girl gets humiliated at her own prom. Now she was no Carrie, she couldn't fight back...Of course, she knew this was different from a PROM, that people were theoretically more mature and all. But look at her...she still hadn't changed...and what if they did something to her at the reunion? Because they really hadn't had the opportunity to do it at the prom, since she was incapacitated and unable to go. No, that was just stupid...She had just watched too many teen movies...but couldn't stop imagining herself in the middle of a gym, yelling "I'm not Josie grosie anymore!" Different situation, different hair...she knew, she knew...

She was suddenly pulled out of her reverie by a loud knock on the door, followed by: "Are you deaf again?" in Michel's voice from the other side of the door. "They arrrrre herrre!"

"I'll be out in a sec! Tell them to just seat and chill..." Whoever they were, they were from Chilton, and she didn't get along with anyone back then, so whoever they were, they could stand to wait a little. Lorelai ginned. "I'm mean..." Now if I could only learn how to do the witch laugh properly...Oh, well she wasn't perfect after all...

Lorelai stood up, took a deep breath to gather some courage, puffed her chest out and was out the door for her meeting with the FSCA.

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Lorelai was now standing in the middle of the stable trying to convince two very frou-frou-looking women to come in to see the horses, and that: yes, the stable was cleaned often; and no, there was no possibility of one of the horses sneezing onto their new Gucci purses and staining them.

Now, she knew that not all rich people were as snobby and irritating as this duo right in front of her, God they could even beat her mother! They were Lilly Donaldson, married to the honorable lawyer F. Franklin Donaldson the Fourth, whom Lorelai had never heard of nor was even a little interested in. But that didn't stop Lilly ("with double _l'_s!") from telling Lorelai about their whole "love" story and how very successful he was and blablablablablablabla, she stopped listening, and just nodded once in a while out of politeness. Now the other charming representative of the FSCA was Dotty Brodnax Speer Straybeck. (Couldn't rich people have short names? Was that like a rule? That and those nicknames...). Well lovely Dotty's ("yes, Dotty, not dot as at the end of a sentence!", she said, followed by a screeching high-pitched laugh) husband James Tinley Straybeck was the head of a huge company of some kind. Yep, Lorelai was feeling really swell at the moment...

Now they had told Lorelai how sad they felt that Marie Louise Medley Lorrainer (the other head of the FSCA) couldn't come; after all, she was the one who had suggested the place...Oh yeah, Lorelai felt really bad too...Could she have handled three of these woman?

After almost ten minutes of standing, she finally achieved the incredible task of convincing Dotty and Lilly to step into the stable...Now how do they want to ride horses if they can't get into a stable?

"I have never entered a stable; the workers have always brought me the horse I wanted," said Lilly, looking around, truly stunned.

"And we are not dressed properly either!" said Dotty, equally stunned by the very _mysterious_ stable.

"Of course, silly me," said Lorelai; she could picture these two telling their families how adventurous they had been, for visiting the stable and not even being properly dressed. They would be known as the rebellious ones of their families!

"Now that you've seen the stable, would you like to step forward and see the horses? Cletus and Desdemona are the older and nicer of the bunch!" Lorelai said as she petted Cletus; he closed his eyes in acknowledgement. She loved horses!

"Yes, we can see that they are very nice!" Dotty said as they stepped forward. "But there's no need to touch it!"

IT, it? How can she call Cletus an IT; he is clearly a HE, just because he's a horse doesn't mean he has no feelings- and then Cletus sneezed, clearly in answer to that naughty comment, and thank God he didn't stain the not-affordable purse! Ugh! What a relief!

**_A Couple of Hours Later_**

After spending the entire afternoon showing the place to the duo (the ENTIRE place, every room, they HAD to see every room--Lorelai actually thought that Michel was paying them and that they were real-life actresses performing a prank on her. but no such luck...) They scheduled the Inn for Memorial Day weekend, because that was the only date available in their busy schedules; and it was easier for top-notch people such as themselves, to be free on a holiday, although sometimes they still worked. Lorelai just couldn't care less.

Lorelai was ready to say goodbye, when she remembered her business cards, so she pulled some out of her purse and handed them out. She said they could call her to schedule the next meeting (they still had a weekend to plan! Yippee!)

"Oh, you're a Gilmore? A Hartford Gilmore?" Lilly asked after glancing at the card that Lorelai gave them. Suddenly she was very interested that maybe their planner was from their same social circle.

"Yep, born and raised!" _escaped as soon as I could, _she could have added, but she didn't think they would have understood...

"Are you Richard and Emily's daughter?" Dotty asked, looking interested too. Lorelai just nodded at that. "Aren't you the one that...that..."

"What?" Lorelai innocently asked; she knew what Dotty wanted to ask.

"Oh yeah, I remember now...you were supposed to graduate with us, in '87, why didn't you?" Lilly asked while opening a Gucci leather wallet and saving Lorelai´s business card.

"She got pregnant!" Dotty said quickly, then covered her mouth, as if she shouldn't even talk about it.

"Yes, yes I did." Lorelai had heard so many different reactions to her early pregnancy, that nothing could really upset her anymore. "I had a daughter, Rory, she's at Yale now. She's gonna be a journalist, maybe you'll meet her..." Lorelai´s tone always changed to proud-mommy whenever she mentioned Rory.

"Wow, so you didn't give her up for adoption?" Dotty said, scandalized. The concept of raising a child at sixteen was totally incomprehensible to her.

"I was thinking...you should probably come to the reunion."

Lorelai frown at that.

"As a guest, I mean. You are from the same class; you just didn't graduate with us." Lilly smiled warmly. "What do you think?" The duo looked at Lorelai, putting no pressure on her.

"Thanks, but I'll have to think about it, since I'm planning the whole thing and all...I don't know if it will be wise...but I'll get back to you on that..." Lorelai faked a smile; really, what she had to do for shoes... "I'll tell you what, how about we talk about this at our next meeting! And try to bring Marie Louise too, since she mentioned us and all!" Another fake smile (she would become a pro soon...) and she waved them goodbye as they finally left. Lorelai sighed, relief flowing through her body. Thank God, they left! But they'd come back soon, too soon...

Suddenly Lorelai felt exhausted, like the week before, the well-slept night's effect had vanished. Those Gucci Nazis had drained all the energy out of her... She could really use some sleep right about...now. But she couldn't go home yet, so good ol´ coffee would have to do the trick. She left the porch and moved toward the swinging doors...

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And if you're one of the 10 very courageous people that read this entire thing:

THANK YOU!


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys!**

**I fixed the 1st chapter if anyone's interested, I added quotation marks on the dialogues as a lot of ppl requested!**

**I wanna thank all the lovely reviews, they let me know that the way I had written wasn't very clear….**

**So…Please review if u can, it would be nice to know what are your thoughts on it…**

**Disclaimer: not mine, and even if I said it was, which I didn´t... how would the law find me! Nobody knows where I live... So yep, it´s all mine! MUAHH- MUAHHHHH!**

**-This story takes place in 2004/ 05-can´t quite decide... **

**-Luke and Lore are still oblivious to the most obvious fact since epi 1, that they belong together (in case u didn´t figure the "most obvious fact"...)**

**-Rory´s at Yale, she never quit... and she only appears when strictly necessary... I´m not a big Rory fan... For me it all ended when she decided to become stupid... after sex w/ Dean... really she´s the only one that can have dropped her I.Q. cause of sex... (oh and for you that actually like her, I don´t keep criticizing her in the story, just in here... I just use the good ol´ reliable Rory for the story...)**

**-I guess that´s it, any doubts please ask away!**

Chappie 2- Invitations are supposed to be accepted!

Sookie could see Lorelai coming into the kitchen, but unlike her normal-self, she made no noise. She just sat at a stool near the coffee maker, grabbed a mug and filled it to the brim. She stared at the black liquid for a few seconds-obviously lost in thoughts- and then took a huge gulp. By now Sook would, normally, have already made her friend taste all her new genius creations, but not today. Today was one of those days that she had to just leave Lorelai be for a while, you know? So Sookie turned around and continued directing her crew, she could be bossy when she wanted (had) to.

"Marco, how many times have I told you, this lime cream is extremely sensitive to heat!" at that Marco rolled his eyes, apparently he had already heard that speech. "You gotta hold your pan up to a distance of exactly four inches to the fire!" Sookie was almost screaming now, and neither Marco nor the rest of the crew seemed surprised.

Sookie´s high-pitched voice apparently took Lorelai out of her gaze, and Sookie (being an excellent friend and all) saw it.

"Hey, hon! So tell me how did the meeting go?"

"good..." She answered in a small voice

"Good, that's...huh...good..." Sookie could feel that her friend wasn't what _she_ would describe as good...

"Yep, good! If you classify good as spending your entire afternoon with two women that have totally no idea of what real life is...They are even worse than my mom! Then I had to hear they _harsh_ stories...really...and their husbands and how successful they are, they made me feel..." she sighed deeply, "like...like I´ve accomplished nothing..." Sookie putted an arm on Lorelai´s shoulder.

"You know that´s not true..."

"I know, I know...It just made me think about life and...the paths I took...Were they the right ones? It made me question my life...even Rory..." She made a face to that, and so did Sookie.

"Rory?" Wow if she questioned Rory... "I had no idea that they affected you that much..."

"They didn´t! I just thought how my life could have turned out if I hadn´t kept her...Would I have turned out like them?"

"I think that that would be totally impossible!" Sookie answered chuckling. "It´s not Rory that made you have this personality; you are and always were like this! You could say that she made you stronger and you grew up together but that´s it..."

"You think?" she still had some doubts.

"I know!" Sookie knew that if she looked sure enough, Lorelai would be convinced. "Now you´re probably just tired...If these women are as half bad as you described..."

"They are worse!" Lorelai interrupted Sookie. "I just have no words to describe the agony of my afternoon...Reminds me of my mother...don´t know why..."

"Well, I would be tired too...Maybe you should just go home...Sleep."

"Maybe...Sleep IS good..." Lorelai pondered over Sookie´s ideia...Maybe a good night of sleep was all she really needed, not that it would erase her day, but just being able to disconnect from it all... Yeah, sleep...I´m going home.-that thought somehow gave Lorelai enough energy to stand up and hug her friend, maybe it was just the coffee...

"Yay!" Sookie clapped her hands. "Goodnight then!" She touched Lorelai´s back and guided her out the door and into her office. "Now grab your stuff I´ll take you to your car!" Sookie would give Lorelai no chance to stay and work, she knew her crazy friend very well, and she knew Lorelai could repeat her staying-after-hours-to-work-like-crazy´s bit she did it last week.

"A little bossy today, aren´t we?" Lorelai said in an already better mood. But she obeyed anyhow, grabbing her purse, coat and...when she reached out for her folders, the paper work, Sookie lightly hitted her friend´s arm.

"No work!" she grabbed both of Lorelai´s arms and putted back toward her body.

"But...my prrreciousss..." she answered humoursly.

"Out, now!" Sookie putted on a straight face, putting her hands on her hips.

Lorelai left her office, followed by Sookie; she went to the Mocha mobil and left, still closely observed by her chubby best friend.

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The next few weeks ran smoothly, well not really... Lorelai had been trying to plan the oh-so-waited reunion, and usually that would be her favorite part of the job, she loved organizing any social event. But, see, this wasn´t _any_ social event, this one actually was directly linked to her, the fact that this was _her_ reunion as well was nerve-racking. Some might think that´s a nice thing, planning your own reunion, but when your well buried past comes crashing with your perfect present...the results are never fun. She still hoped to come out of it alive, but she was sure she would get at least a few scratches and bruises...

Lorelai had the full knowledge that she had been acting like real drama-queen lately, even Sookie had begged her to chill and Rory forbid her to call complaining about the charming ladies of the FSCA. So that had left only her own ol´ self to whine to. And inner whining got very boring after a while...-and it was completely useless.

The truth about it -without dramatic embellishment- was that the FSCA´s representatives were truly picky and could never get to an agreement without endless hours of discussion. They had very different opinions, which made Lorelai´s job a _tad_ more difficult... She felt like the only thing she achieved successfully was that she had been able to convince them that, as the busy event planner, she couldn´t participate; therefore she wouldn´t have to BE a part at the actual reunion. She felt victorious, cuz it´s very hard to reason with three women that are used to have a positive answer to any requests; she still had to show up and command the whole reunion carnival, but that involved little socializing duties. And _that_ made her happy.

Those thoughts had been constantly running through Lorelai´s mind, religiously. And, unfortunately, the first five seconds after opening her eyes were no different.-She closed her eyes tightly, trying to erase those painful thoughts...-Blank, think blank!-so far this technique had yet to work..._yet_ being the focus here.

She pushed her cover off of her and figured this was a good time as any to start her day; she got out of the bed by the right side of it. She wasn´t really superstitious, but it was worth a try, right?

She could hear the wind oooh-ing outside, great, windy day...-Today won´t be a good hair day...-frizzy, yeah she was feeling her hair already rising with the humidity of the air, add that to windy and...oh, god...As the smart woman she was, she wizely decided to put her hair up on a poney tail. After a few unsuccessful attempts she got it right and went on with her regular beauty routine: contacts, lotion, make up, take off pj´s, try to find an outfit, go downstairs, prepare her coffee, try to find an outfit, drink her coffee, try to find an outfit, eat something -Really, all this exercise!- find an outfit, change and leave! Phew...Run to the car...

"Lorelai."

Wait, somebody had just screwed the order of her routine!

"Yeah?" she already had the car keys in her hands and was about two steps to the car, but she quickly turned around, without losing her balance and with her new boots too! She did all that only to see Kirk, she tried not to look disappointed.

"I just want to inform you that as the mailman of the town of Stars Hollow I feel that is part of my responsibility that you receive your mail at the same day I delivered them."

"Oh, uhmmmkay Kirk." She proceeded to open the car door and dropped her purse on the passenger seat.

"Aren´t you gonna get them?"

"Ah!...You´re still there Kirk?", she turned around _again_.

"Yes, I wanna make sure you´ll get your mail today."

"How nice of you Kirk." She stared at him, he didn´t move. "Do you want me to get my mail now?"

"Yes, like I said I have to make sure you get your mail; it´s part of my job as the mailman of this town and I take my job very seriously..."

"I know Kirk, I know..." she opened her mailbox, only to find it empty. "Huh, Kirk, there´s nothing in my mailbox." she looked at her watch (7:35 A.M.), Kirk just made sure she had no diner time this morning...

"Oh yeah, I haven't filled your mailbox yet."

"Really? Now I wouldn't have figured as much." This had to count as charity work, right? Maybe this will count as something on her final judgment...Yeah, she had just bought a ticket to heaven!

After a couple of seconds of standing still and staring at the space, Kirk finally realized that this was his cue to give Lorelai her mail. He went through his blue bag for a few more seconds and pulled out a small pile of mail, and then he carefully handed to her.

"Thank you, Kirk. The town is lucky to have a mailman like you!" She got in the car, threw the mail inside her purse and raced to work.

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Her day had been typical: moody-charming Michel, jumpy-injured Sookie, crazy-anxious guests and to make it complete…a delightful meeting with the FSCA´s girls! _Insert deadly sarcasm here_, she thought.

It was getting late already and she was starting to feel the pangs of hunger and she desperately needed a coffee fix. Her working day had finally come to an end and she could say "bye-bye" paperwork!

"Bye-bye!" Saying out loud sounds more real…even if she sounded crazy yelling at her empty office.

She grabbed her purse, waved an over- excited goodbye to Michel and left to the diner.

She arrived a couple minutes later, parked next to a black PT Cruiser, funny how this car always seemed to around… (AN: have u guys noticed this car? It's like finding Wally all over again…it's in every epi)

Luke was already on cleaning duty in the kitchen; the diner was almost dark. All signs indicated that she shouldn't get in, including the one on the door that said, "CLOSED". Call her selfish, or egocentric, or whatever you like, but Lorelai really wanted, no she needed to get in…She hoped he didn't mind her. _What was she thinking? Of course he wouldn't!_

Luke heard, from the kitchen, the door's bell jingling and he already knew who it was.

"Hi Lorelai", he said still from the kitchen.

Lorelai had just entered the diner and couldn't see Luke was in the kitchen, so she was a little intrigued when she heard him.

"Luke?" she asked to an empty dark diner.

"Yeah!" Luke said turning on the lights and making Lorelai jump.

"Oh MY God!" she put her hand over her chest, he had scared her. "Don't do that!" Luke smirked at her reaction.

"Why?"

"It's creepy…and in the dark too… Really, you can't do that to someone that has watched every horror movie known to men, such as myself…It's not safe…" She breathed out her sentences.

"Ok." the smirk still on his face.

"Can I sit?" she wasn't sure he would serve her…_DIRTY!_

"Like you pay attention on closing time…" he answered a little grumpy, but he was always glad when she showed up.

"Hey!" She pretended to be offended. "What closing time?" she smiled, then moved to a stool, leaving her purse on the counter.

"So… Busy day?" Luke asked, while pouring coffee into her favorite mug; he had missed her that day…

"Not really…"she inhaled the smell of her favorite drink on her favorite mug. _How did Luke know these things?_ "I missed you!" she said to the beautiful black liquid in her mug.

"Oh yeah, I feel loved now…Maybe I should leave you two alone…" he turned around, pushing her purse to the floor in the process, all sort of crazy things falling from it.

"I missed you too Luke, don't worry…" she answered playfully, then immediately bent down her purse and all the junk and mail that had fallen off of it.

Luke was happy she wasn't looking, because he was blushing (only a little…) even though he knew she meant it as a joke.

Meanwhile Lorelai was having a hard time gathering all her belongings from the floor; see, she was too lazy to actually get out of the stool, so she just bent down. It had seemed like a good idea, but now that all her blood ran to her head…she had changed her mind…Especially when the dizziness stated to come…

"Need some help?" Luke amused by her incredible laziness, he had recovered from his blush-moment and was now observing Lorelai trying to catch her things. _She should be dizzy by now…_

"Got it!" She said, quickly reappearing from under the counter, in fact she came up a bit too quickly…_Really dizzy now_…She observed how Luke's face suddenly became four… "Oh no…"

Luke was by her side before she lost her balance; he grabbed her shoulders and steadied her. She could still feel the world swing a little, then closed her eyes.

"Are you OK?"

She opened her eyes and nodded. _Wow, was he close to her or what?_

"Yeah, just some blood rushing straight to my brain, no biggie…"

"Are you sure?" he wasn't really convinced, so he didn't let go of her shoulders.

"Yeah, all the blood has returned to it's previous place now…" she smiled reassuring him.

"OK", he dropped his hands from her shoulders, and took a seat on the stool next to hers. "So I have a piece of cherry pie left, I just don't know what to do with it…"

"Ooh! Gimme, gimme!" she jumped up and down on her stool.

Sometimes she reminded him of a small child, so easy to please…

"I'm gonna get it…", he got up, and noticed a piece of mail she obviously hadn't picked up and (for lack of better word) picked it up and dropped on the counter in front of Lorelai. "Here, you missed one…"

"Thanks." she looked at the nice envelope Luke had dropped in front of her, it looked like an invitation…It was a light green squared envelope, on the outside she could read her name beautifully printed with a darker green ink. Could it be a wedding invitation? ..Hmmm But everybody she knew was either married or single for life…(like herself, sadly…) She really didn't feel like going to a wedding…Not as a single 30ish woman- she sounded like a loser…- She looked at the green envelope again, it was mocking her! Ha! She hated how regular things could easily become mockers…

"Lorelai!" Luke decided to pull Lorelai out of whatever crazy thoughts she was having, besides it was weird how she seemed so engrossed with that envelope…

"Huh?" she looked up to see Luke staring at her with a delicious piece of pie in hand. "Looks yummy!" she clicked her tongue, and then stared at him, waiting for him to leave the plate for her.

"You have to move the green stuff…" he nodded at the envelope.

"Oh yeah." she picked up, finally turning it around; that's when she saw written in an also beautifully printed letter, the most feared words…"Oh NO!", she screamed at the same time Luke putted the pie in front of her.

"Something wrong with the pie?" his eyes suddenly bigger, he always knew he would never understand women, he knew they were a mystery and blablablabla…But Lorelai was just impossible to get….

"What?" she hadn't heard Luke's question. Oh no, she was still too shocked from finding out that this was, after all, her reunion invitation, and all her convincing attempts had apparently no effects on the FSCA´s; yep she was officially invited…just like all those others classmates she couldn't wait to see…

"The pie?"

"Oh, yeah…Thank you Lukey…" she smiled and grabbed her fork happily; there was plenty of time to freak out _after_ the pie…

"My name's Luke. Why don't you call me by my name?" he was happy that she seemed to be her normal self again.

"You mean you want me to call you Lucas? Because that's your name and I know it!" she said between forkfuls of pie entered her mouth, and still managed to laugh at the face Luke had made at her comment.

"Whatever…"

"I win, I win!" she announced to the empty diner.

"Eat your pie!" he answered gruffly, but meekly smiling…

"Yess sire!"

Lorelai resumed eating her pie, finished the pot Luke had made especially for her and left home.

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NEXT DAY

Lorelai was nervously walking from one end to another of her living room, she knew there was not a real reason for her nervousness, it's not like she had never done it…

So she grabbed the phone, seated on the couch and putted it on her lap. _Ok, first part of it has been done, now she only had to pick up the phone and call him…Chris…_

It had been a while since they talked, but since he was probably invited to the reunion, she figured they could go together. This way, she would have an ally, someone on the inside. _Ooh, she felt like a spy.. She could just hear ALIAS´ theme song on the back round…_

Last night, she had decided to open the invitation as soon as she got home from Luke's, and so she did. It was a regular high-class-well-paid-invitation, no biggie…The only thing that made it morph from a friendly invitation to a job obligation, was the small note carefully attached to it, it read:

"_Dear Lorelai:_

_Although we've talked about it, I don't think you should lose the one time opportunity to reunite with all your old classmates; I'm sure that they will be as delighted as all of us from the FSCA with your presence. _

_Don't forget to bring a date!_

_Lilly Donaldson"_

That note had not only made it impossible for her to miss the reunion, it had also made completely clear that she had to bring someone…She had recently gone through her ¼ life crisis-

feeling an old, pathetic, single, loser and she was starting to think she was gonna have another one pretty soon…

She breathed deeply, filling her lungs to full capacity then slowly let all the air out. This was it. She picked the phone up and dialed Chris's number, it rang a couple of times then his voice came up.

"Hello?" he sounded out of breath, like he had just ran to get the phone.

"Hi…uh…Chris?"

"Lor?" he recognized her voice.

"Yeah, so received any piece of interesting mail lately?"

"Besides the new Victoria Secret's catalogue?"

"Oh bummer, I haven't got mine yet…Weird, I usually get three…"

"Three? Really?"

"Yeah, long story I'll amuse you with it another time, so did you?"

"Did I…"

"Received any interesting mail lately? Oh the last couple days to be more specific."

"Are you talking bout the gay greenish envelope inviting me to my 18 year reunion?"

"Exactly, that's the one…Are you coming?"

"I dunno yet…"

"Because you know it's going to be at the Dragonfly, which you haven't seen by the way, I'm organizing it and I've been ordered to go…by the most annoying group of women in the world, not including my mother, of course. And since I _have_ to go and you _have_ to come and finally meet my beautiful perfect Inn, I thought you would like to come with me, I could use some moral support too…"

"I can't Lore, I'm sorry…"

"What do you mean you can't? You just said you didn't know if you were coming…" she couldn't go alone to this thing, that would be humiliation. A teen movie flashback suddenly ran thought her mind.

"Well, I dunno if I'm gonna go, but if I do, I'm bringing Mindy as my date, we're pretty serious."

"Oh." she felt really stupid/embarrassed at this moment, why didn't she think he could already have a date…Actually a _serious_ girlfriend, yeah, the pathetic feeling had just increased, even irresponsible Chris had someone…She felt betrayed by the world, it was obviously a conspiracy against her…

"But I'll try to come; I really wanna see what your Inn looks like." He had heard the previous disappointment on her voice, so he tried to cheer her up…

"Yes, please try to come and bring Mandy with!" she was disappointed; all she wanted was to have fun with her buddy on a high class event, just like old times…

"It's Mindy…"

"Oh sorry, easily mistaken I guess…So call me to RSVP, ok?" she really had no obligations to know all three thousand girlfriends he had, how could she keep up?

"I'll do that, I just need to talk to Mindy."

"Ok, do that and bye, then! Hope to see you at the reunion!" she cut him, she had no desire to hear him babble bout his newest girlfriend…

"Bye, take care Lore!" she could feel he really meant it.

So Chris, her social event's buddy, wasn't gonna be able to escort her. She was really hoping he would, they used to have so much fun at these things, running from the boring people, stealing some booze, and dancing. She had even grew a bit eager to the idea of some fun at this event and she couldn't be the only loser/sucker with no date, no, that would be unacceptable, she had exactly two weeks to find a date, and that's exactly what she intended to do!

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And if you´re one of the 10 very courageous ppl that read this entire thing:

THANK YOU!


	3. Jelly legs are no good

**Hey! **

**It's update time!**

**I just want to say thanks to my perfect betas:**

**MrsDionysiusOGall**** and OzDust! **

**They need to know they're appreciated! So give them a hand!**

**And the wonderful reviews too! I loved them all! It's nice to know your opinions**!

**Disclaimer: not mine, and even if I said it was, which I didn´t... how would the law find me! Nobody knows where I live... So yep, it´s all mine! MUAHH- MUAHHHHH!**

**-This story takes place in 2004/ 05-can´t quite decide... **

**-Luke and Lore are still oblivious to the most obvious fact since epi 1, that they belong together (in case u didn´t figure the "most obvious fact"...)**

**-Rory´s at Yale, she never quit... and she only appears when strictly necessary... I´m not a big Rory fan... For me it all ended when she decided to become stupid... after sex w/ Dean... really she´s the only one that can have dropped her I.Q. cuz of sex... (oh and for you that actually like her, I don´t keep criticizing her in the story, just in here... I just use the good ol´ reliable Rory for the story...)**

**-There was never a Sherry or Gigi, Lorelai was just smart enough to let Chris go away, far-far away!**

**-I guess that´s it!**

**Any doubts don't be shy and plz ask away!**

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Chappie 3- Jelly legs are no good.

1 WEEK AND ½ LATER--AT THE DINER

"I'm ugly!" Lorelai banged her head against the counter. "I'm stupid!" Bang! "I'm unattractive!" Bang! "I'm pathetic!" Bang! "I'm disgusting!" Bang! "I'm all of the above plus all other horrible characteristics in the world!" she screamed before a final dramatic bang, and then laid her head quietly on the counter.

"Stop that, you know you're not one of those things," Sookie said, putting a friendly hand on Lorelai's shoulder.

"Yes, I am!" came Lorelai's muffled answer; her head still lying on the counter.

"Luke!" Sookie yelled and wave her hands to make Luke stop staring at Lorelai and look at her.

"Yeah?" He finally looked at Sookie, but was still wondering what the hell was wrong with Lorelai this time.

"Can you get Lorelai some coffee? I think she really needs it…" Sookie said in an almost whisper, while she gently tapped Lorelai on the shoulder to calm her down.

"Oh yeah…Right away…" He quickly turned around and went to work. Sookie laughed a little at how fast and enthusiastic (for Luke's standards, of course…) Luke seemed to do anything for Lorelai. Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the mug making contact with the acrylic counter.

That same familiar sound seemed to make Lorelai come out of her depressed thoughts for a second; she looked up to see Luke staring at her. He pushed the mug in her direction.

"Thanks." A weak smiled played on her face; her forehead red from the previous counter banging (DIRTY!) Luke nodded and went to attend to his other patrons.

Lorelai grabbed the mug firmly, and took a big relieving gulp of Luke's perfect coffee.

"Better now?" Sookie knew what she was doing when she had dragged her friend for a cheering-up Luke's coffee session; it always worked.

"Yeah, thanks Sook…" Lorelai smiled at her best friend. "But although I think of coffee as a sign that there's really a God, and that drinking it is at the same level of spirituality as meditation…that still leaves me with the same problems I had when I came in…" She turned serious again. "I still have absolutely no date for my reunion and I just now found out how truly incapable I am of finding a date …" She took another big gulp from the huge mug in front of her.

"You know that's not true…"

Lorelai's head jolted up at that.

"You say that like I haven't looked for a guy, but…I'm picky and it's short notice…plus the good-looking guys, the ones I try to impress, they never look my way…"

"Maybe you just looked in the wrong places…"

"I looked everywhere…and Stars Hollow is not a big town, I sure haven't missed anywhere…I just…really don't wanna go alone…"

"I can lend Jackson to you, and there's always Kirk, everybody knows he has a crush on you!"

"I'm sorry, are you trying to make me feel better?"

"Sorry…" Sookie meant it as a serious suggestion, although it sounded more like a joke.

Lorelai smiled at Sookie; she knew she was trying to help, but…Kirk? She wasn't that desperate! Besides, she was not the stalker-creepy-guy type; she preferred to go as a single-pathetic-reunion organizer…

When she moved her hands to hold the mug again, she noticed its unfamiliar lack of weight…It was empty! _Outrageous!_

"Luke!" Lorelai yelled at the top of her lungs, making poor Sook jump on her stool. She looked around the diner and spotted Luke on the other side, apparently taking the order of a family of six…huh--she sighed--that would take a while. "Oh Luuuuuuuuke!" she couldn't wait, there was NO time to wait; she still had to go date-hunting later…

"Just wait Lorelai! I'll get to you, when I get to you! And, yes, that means after them!" He pointed at the family.

She pouted a little but turned around on her stool, facing the coffeemaker. "So close but yet sooooo far!"

"Lor, I think I just thought of a solution to your prob…" Sookie said next to Lorelai.

"As long as it doesn't involve Kirk, clowns and Mickey Rourke. I'm totally open to suggestions…Those things freak me out…"

"Well, it might sound crazy to you, but it just occurred to me…really…Have you ever considered asking Luke to go with you?" Sookie looked hopefully at her friend; she was pretty proud of her solution. She knew for sure that it was better than the last one.

"Luke?" Lorelai questioned back; she obviously hadn't thought about her diner friend.

"I'm coming Lorelai, geez…can't you wait?" Luke said, still at the family's table; he thought Lorelai was still attempting to call him, to give her poison fix.

Sookie laughed at Luke's reaction; good thing he didn't know what they were talking about…

"Luke, Lucas, Lukey, diner boy from Luke's, Luke?" Lorelai asked Sookie, still pretty surprised by her friend's suggestion; meanwhile, Luke was entering the kitchen.

"Do you know that the world doesn't revolve around you?" Luke stepped back from the kitchen, grabbed the coffeepot and refilled Lorelai's mug.

"Just what I need it, thanks Lukey…" Lorelai smiled sweetly at him, totally unaware of the whole dialogue she had just had with Luke, without even realizing.

"Don't thank me; this will probably be the cause of your first heart attack!" He returned to his previous task of going into the kitchen to talk to Caesar.

"Yes, THAT Luke!" Sookie said, pointing to the now closed kitchen door.

"I hadn't thought about it…" Lorelai was honest; she had never thought of Luke that way. He was her friend/Mr. Fix-It/psychiatrist/owner of the best coffee/entertainer…but never a DATE…it sounded weird…"It's weird…"

"C'mon, I've been observing you two over the years, you have great interaction…there's something there…" At that, Sookie received a "you're lying" glare from Lorelai. "And you can invite him as your friend…"

"At least it's an option, still better than none…" Lorelai shrugged.

"I'm sorry to break this to you, Hon; but at this point I feel that Luke is your ONLY option!" God, what more did Lorelai want? She would never find somebody better than Luke in so few days…

"No need to be so dramatic, Sook." She was starting to feel hungry…maybe looking for a date on her lunch break wasn't the best idea, now she felt…empty…gah! She couldn't focus on her hunger. Sook had just made her really nervous. "I still have time!" Now she wasn't even being optimistic anymore; it was just a plain old lie.

"Sure, you have…" Sookie counted the days using her fingers, math made her head hurt, "…Five days! Yep, that's plenty of time!" Sookie said sarcastically, trying to confront Lorelai, so she could see that Luke was her only and best option. Luke was nice and good-looking, nothing wrong there…

Lorelai felt a jolt of panic: that was right…she only had five DAYS! Wow, Sook was right, there's no way she could still meet someone worth bringing to this thing…Lorelai looked down at her shoes; she felt embarrassed by her stupid situation…

Seeming to realize that Lorelai was not going to answer, Sookie decided she should convince her about Luke coming…She should press harder…She was even beginning to feel excited for her pal; they would make such a cute couple! So, she decided that since Lorelai had realized she was in a critical situation, she should take advantage of it…and maybe, just maybe…play the little matchmaker. And if it worked…Lorelai would end up being grateful, right? And if it didn't work and Luke and Lorelai ended up realizing that they hate each other…then…Well that would never happen!

"Besides…" Sookie's voice brought Lorelai back to harsh reality. "Even if you do meet someone in the next five days, do you think they'll agree to spend an _entire_ weekend at your reunion? That's the type of thing you try to run from…" Sook tried to look serious, and she was actually convincing. "And let's say this…dude agrees…How do you know he won't be a psycho? Will you be safe?" Sookie was really into her speech; in fact she was on her feet and yelling at the top of her lungs.

"Sook." Lorelai gently pushed Sookie back down on her stool. "Maybe you should ratchet it down a notch, okay?" _Why worry about a psycho date, when you have a psycho best friend?_

"I mean I don't wanna find out that you have been murdered by a Manson-wannabe…You can't leave Rory without a mommy!" Sookie was getting over-excited again…

"It won't happen…" Lorelai looked Sookie in the eye just to reassure her. "I promise."

"Did she have some of your coffee?" Luke interrupted their intense talk; they broke eye contact and stared at him questioningly. "It's just that she's behaving a lot like you," he explained.

"Hey! I don't usually act like that!" Lorelai yelled while frantically moving her hands.

"Yeah, I can see that…" He grinned at her, what a piece of work!

Sookie laughed at their banter; she would never say it out loud, but she kind of agreed with Luke, Lore was a bit cuckoo!

"And you!" Lorelai nudged a laughing Sookie. "You're not supposed to agree with him!" she pouted, pretending to take offense.

"So what was up with you two putting up on a circus before?" Luke said while wiping the counter.

The girls exchanged nervous looks. Luke would never imagine what they had been discussing and how much it affected him. But that didn't mean that Luke hadn't caught their exchange of nervous looks.

"Well…It's nothing really…" He stopped wiping, looked up at Lorelai, clearly not buying it. He had known her long enough to know when she was lying. "Just some Inn issues…"

Luke could tell she was still not telling the truth, but he wasn't going to press her to answer him; maybe it was just none of his business. Just because they were friends, it didn't mean she had to share her entire life with him; it wasn't like he was an open book either. So who was he to judge, right? But he had to admit that this not-telling made him very curious…

"Okay…" he decided to answer; he also decided to stop wiping the same spot on the counter; so he threw the rag over his shoulder.

Lorelai could see that Luke hadn't believed anything she had said; she had learned to read him over the years and he had been really clear, at least to her. All his regular "I don't believe a word you just said" symptoms were there:

He paused, then started to wipe the same spot over and over; he had on that pondering face and then quickly and almost unnoticeably flinched, as he had just realized he had been lied to…And then in a classic conclusion, he stopped the wiping all together…And _tha_t was never a good thing…

Lorelai's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a quick yet effective nudge in the ribs.

"Ouch!" She rubbed her sore rib and looked at her aggressor, Sookie.

Sookie was trying to quietly and discreetly tell Lorelai something…She kept mouthing the words: "A-S-KH-I-M!"

At that, Lorelai's eyes grew wide; she looked frightened. So Sookie re-nudged her now sore rib. "C'mon!" she moved her lips very slowly.

Luke had figured that Lorelai wasn't going to tell him anything, in fact, she didn't seem to even be talking; that worried him a little, and only increased his curiosity. He decided to check on the other customers and turned around to leave.

"Wait! Luke…" Lorelai touched his arm to stop him: it worked. "I wanna ask you something…" She smiled sweetly at him; o-oh she was up to something…He noticed that a huge smile appeared on Sook's face…now he was sure she was up to something…

"Ask away…" He tried to act nonchalant, '_act grumpy, act grumpy'_ had just become his mantra.

"I was thinking…" She took a deep breath: here goes nothing… "Can you make me some eggs? Or an omelet? I suddenly have this craving for eggs, and although I know…you don't serve them at this time of day, I was hoping you would make an exception. See, I didn't have breakfast today nor lunch, so I thought I should start my next meal with the first one I missed, to keep the equilibrium, ya know?" She knew she was ranting, Luke knew she was ranting, Sook knew she was ranting, even the old greasy guy at the end of the counter knew she was ranting; but the question was: _Why_ was she ranting? Why hadn't she asked for what she wanted?

"Of course, I guess…" Luke had totally given up trying to understand Lorelai's freak-outs. Besides, he couldn't keep up, she had so many. "You want something too Sook?" He looked at the previously grinning, chubby cook who had suddenly become so serious; maybe he just didn't understand women, period.

"Yes, can you bring me some onion rings?" And as suddenly as Sookie had become serious, she undid it, because now she was smiling at him.

"Sure…" He really had to get away from these crazy two for a while, so he left for the kitchen.

"Lorelai!" Sook said, disappointed. She lightly slapped Lorelai's arm. "Why didn't you ask him?" She turned on her stool.

"I dunno…" Lorelai also turned to face Sookie. "What if he misinterprets my invitation?" she said in a slightly lower voice. "I don't want things to change between us cuz he thinks I have a crush on him and asked him out on a date!" she added, now in a whispering voice.

"If you explain the whole reunion epic to him, I'm sure he'll understand…" Sookie answered in an also whispering tone. "Besides, he'll want to help you, he's your friend." Sookie felt somewhat guilty to be cheering for Luke to misinterpret the invitation…

"I know, I know…I just…it's not the right place or the right time to do this…" she said, sitting up straight again. "I still have to get used to the idea. We've never spent so much time together; it IS a whole weekend…"

"You gotta get used to it pretty fast there lady!" Sookie was using a normal tone of voice again; she also had regained her previous sitting position.

"Why are you saying that?"

"He'll need to get used to it too, ya know."

"Oh my god, you're right, what if he doesn't? What if he won't even come with me? I'm so stupid…I just assumed he would have no problem coming…" Lorelai felt suddenly a bit nervous; the thought of Luke saying "no" hadn't even crossed her mind until now.

"Don't worry, he will agree, he can't deny you anything!" Sookie laughed at Lorelai's sudden nervousness.

"I'm not worried." She acted nonchalant.

"Of course not!" Sook laughed some more.

Luke entered the diner in time to see and hear Sookie laughing hysterically at an angry-looking Lorelai (the joke had obviously been on her.) He was carrying their orders and placed them in front of the duo, promptly refilling their drinks.

After Sookie calmed down, both started their dinners. They ate quickly since Lorelai was in no mood to continue their previous conversation.

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2 DAYS LATER

"Hi, this is the very lonely mother who has been abandoned by her heartless daughter. I'm probably occupied suffering from this great loss, so leave me a message after the beeeeep…"

Lorelai heard the answering machine pick up, while lying on the couch staring at the stains on the ceiling.

"Hey mom…This is your apparently heartless daughter; I'm calling to remind you that today is the day you have to ask Luke out! I know you're home, probably staring at the marks on the ceiling…"

Wow, how did she know?

"Oh, can you see the bunny-shaped one? I swear I saw it last time…So you gotta get yo ass outta da couch and leave! You know Luke can't say _no_ to you! Besides you don't wanna be like Lisa Kudrow and Mira Sorvino in that movie…now do ya?" Lorelai got up from the couch; she certainly didn't want to be like them. "So if you don't wanna be pathetic, you gotta go there and use your persuasive skills! You should be off the couch by now…"

How DID she know?

"I'll call in ten minutes to check…But I hope that for your own good, you'll be out of the house, do you hear me young lady?"

Yep, she'd heard all right…

"So outta there! Now just one more thing…" Lorelai stopped midway out the door. "You gotta change the message on our answering machine, what will people think 'bout me? Bye…"

"Bye…" Lorelai answered back before leaving the house.

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A FEW MINUTES LATER, SOMEWHERE IN STARS HOLLOW

Lorelai knew she couldn't slow down her pace; she knew that if she did, she would lose her nerve. She couldn't understand why she was feeling nervous…It was just one simple question: _Luke would you go to my reunion with me?_ See, it was simple, she had asked for harder things in life, like when she begged Luke for the money for the Inn…Maybe the part that was making her nervous wasn't the actual asking Luke to do something for her; she had no problem with that. Maybe she was just a little frightened by what his answer would be. For all she knew, he could say "no", and she hadn't even considered the possibility of him seeing anyone at the moment. Not that she wanted to see Luke; it's just that if she were Luke's girlfriend, she wouldn't have liked him to escort a gorgeous female friend to a whole weekend of festivities. But just how could she know those things? Luke was not an open book…

Soon and without realizing it, Lorelai was standing in front of Luke's. She could see him through the window, wiping the counter, for a change…the man sure liked his routines…

She figured she had to be subtle about her request; you know, not letting him see that it was a big thing…She didn't want him to feel pressured to say "yes", even though she couldn't deny that there was, in fact, a lot of pressure.

Lorelai managed to bring herself together; maybe pretending to not be nervous was the key to not being nervous. That's what she would keep telling herself. She pushed the door open a little too forcefully, so the doorbell made twice the noise; every single soul in the diner (Luke included) turned to her, obviously frightened by the loud noise. After the crowd realized that the noise wasn't caused by a sudden hurricane, and that it was, in fact, just Lorelai Gilmore, they all turned back to their previous activities. All except Luke, who kept staring at her...wearing a not so attractive mocking grin.

Apparently, her being-subtle-plan had already failed; now she only had to keep herself together and…Lorelai bumped into the pointy corner of a table.

"Ouch!" She rubbed her new wound; she had once again managed to capture everybody's attention. If she hadn't already failed at being subtle, she would have done so now…She noticed that Luke had a discrete smile on his face; he was probably laughing at her inside his mind. She moved to an empty stool; there was not one free table…maybe she had picked the wrong time to come to the diner. It was so busy, Luke might not even pay attention to her…

Luke had been busy running around the diner, but even on his busiest days, he couldn't help but notice when Lorelai was around: there was something about her that changed the ambiance. He could instantly tell if she was in a place. He had finally been able to slow down a little; it was probably time for his break anyway…

"Luke!" she yelled.

"Jeez Lorelai, you don't have to yell. I'm right in front of you." OK, maybe his break could wait a bit. "Ready to order?"

She nodded.

"Yeah, coffee right away!" She looked longingly at the coffee pot.

He grabbed a humongous blue mug filled to the very brim and handed it to her.

She first did her "Luke's coffee ritual": smelling, inhaling, staring then drinking.

"Anything else I can get you? A tumor, a heart attack, cancer?" he asked in a serious tone.

She seemed to ponder a little.

"…not really…I'm not hungry yet…" Although that was not true; of course, she was hungry, she was always hungry; but she had come to the diner with a specific purpose: to ask Luke to come with her to the reunion. Now, after she was done with that, she would take care of her starvation.

Luke was about to leave; Lorelai had been doing some serious staring at the wall. He knew she was lost in her thoughts.

"But…"

He turned to look into her expectant blue eyes.

"I would like to have a little word with you…" There, no ordering crazy omelets this time. "…in private…" She whispered the last part. "If you don't mind, of course!" she laughed nervously.

"Sure…I'm taking my break now…" he said, looking at his watch, and then repeated it to Caesar in the kitchen.

"Oh…ok…now is fine." She quickly finished her coffee and followed him behind the curtain and up to his apartment.

They went quietly upstairs; Luke opened the door and showed her in.

She felt like a stupid nervous teenager all over again, and although she hadn't truly lived this part of her life, she was pretty sure that's exactly how teen girls felt. She looked around Luke's tiny apartment, looking for a proper/safe place to sit (she couldn't give herself any opportunities to trip in her nervousness.) And also for any vestiges of a girlfriend (portrait, lingerie, flowers…) whatever could indicate anything serious going on in that department…good thing she didn't find any of that, because that wouldn't have made her question easer to ask…

She decided to sit at the kitchen table; it had less barriers in its way, so a higher chance of succeeding with the not tripping thing; and she could still try to get some coffee afterwards.

After some uncharacteristic silence, she focused on moving to the kitchen, while trying to control her nerves (that were currently freaking out with the possibility of a negative answer from Luke.) She sat in the nearest chair and looked at him.

"Soooo…" Unfortunately, she couldn't bring herself to continue her question; her mind went blank; _what was she doing here again?_

"You wanted to tell me something?" He could tell she was nervous; this question was probably something important to her, wanting to talk to him in private and all… He hadn't even admitted it to himself, but that made a little spark of hope grow in his heart, a little _mayb_e form in his head… and then he quickly moved back to denial.

"Yeah, you better sit down…" She wanted him to sit, not because he couldn't take her question, but more because she wanted to look him in the eyes when he answered; maybe putting on a little pressure could, after all, be helpful.

"Mmmmokay…" Now she had officially made him nervous as well, but he sat down anyway…

"Okay…" She put both hands on top of the table and looked him deeply in the eyes; she was done with circling around the subject. "I wanna ask you to escort me to my high school reunion weekend, this weekend actually…" She let out a nervous laugh.

Luke was happy that she had asked him to sit, because right now, his knees felt like jelly and there's no standing when your base structure is like that. He was feeling…surprised! He didn't know if he liked it or not…he was actually feeling kind of numb…he was absolutely and without a doubt surprised, and he knew his face was showing it just by looking at Lorelai's own features.

The only thing Luke didn't know was that Lorelai had misinterpreted his reaction; she thought he looked scared and doubtful, maybe he would say _no_ after all…

"As friends," she added as an afterthought. Luke seemed to 'awaken' after that, his gaze refocusing on her. "I don't think I made it very clear, I didn't mean to scare you or anything…I'm inviting you as a friend…" She smiled to reassure him; it wasn't like she was lying or something…But she had just found out that both Sook and Rory had been wrong about Luke having a thing for her, because there was no way he would have reacted like that…

"Of course, as friends…" He seemed to linger over the last word, even stuttering a bit; he almost sounded disappointed.

Was Luke disappointed that she had asked him out as a friend? He almost looked like it… Nope, she was just tripping, right?

"I was just surprised." It was his time to smile (more like a little twist at the corner of his mouth) to reassure her. "I was expecting you to ask me to fix something…" He gave a warm chuckle.

"Like _I_ would do such thing!" she mocked in disbelief. "So, what's your answer?" She turned serious again.

"Well…it's not really my thing, but…"

She interrupted him. "But you're gonna say _yes_?" She looked at him with her best puppy-dog eyes.

"I dunno…" he said unsurely.

"Say yes, say yes, say yes!" The hell with no pressure! "I'll pay you back! I could work for you at the diner, or I could lend you a room at the Inn, or I could clean this place up, or paint it! I'm really good at that!" She looked directly into his eyes; she saw how he had stiffened and sat up straight in his chair.

"_You_ will pay me back?" he asked, not believing her promises.

She just nodded, still with those begging blue eyes.

"I think I'll hold onto that then…" he smiled at her.

"Is that a _yes_?" she asked, bending her head slightly to the side.

"Yes." He tried not to sound excited; he couldn't let it show, the glint of hope was back, in full-on mode now…

"Really?" Lorelai felt incredibly happy to finally have a date, plus she knew she would have fun with Luke, they always had. She got up from her chair, went around the table and hugged her friend. "Thanks Luke! You don't know what it means to me…"

"Sure." He hugged her back, but made it quick. "But I'm gonna need a written document on how you'll pay me back with labor!" he joked.

"Dirty!" she started giggling.

"Take your mind out of the gutter…" he said in an 'oh, _jeez!' _tone that only worsened Lorelai's giggling fit.

After recovering, she spoke again.

"I'm glad you said yes," she truthfully said, which increased Luke's happiness. "See, Sook told me I should ask you, she told me I would have fun if I brought a friend instead of a date I barely knew."

Although he could see she had been speaking the truth and was really trying to be honest with him, she didn't know that she was actually changing Luke's state of mind from happy to…well he didn't know yet. So it hadn't even been her idea to invite him? He felt sad; he probably hadn't been her first choice either. But then he remembered something…

"Did you just say this thing is the entire weekend?"

"Yeah, it starts on Labor day…"

He flinched at her answer: he didn't know if he could handle a whole weekend of Lorelai.

"It's gonna be held at the Dragonfly and I'm the planner!" she said excitedly. "The women who hired me are true bitches, but I do love planning these things, so I'm having fun anyway!"

Luke was amazed by her enthusiasm as she spoke and sat next to him.

"But you can come back home if you don't wanna stay at the Inn…" She seemed to finally understand his previous statement; maybe he didn't feel comfortable spending this much time with her.

"Of course I'll stay at your Inn."

She loved how he said it was her Inn.

"I'll keep my part of the deal, if you'll keep yours…" He smiled at her.

"I got it, you're not letting me out of my promise…Now you can stop with the subtle hints, 'k?" She playfully winked at him.

"Good thing you know I won't forget about it…" He tried not to smile again, but failed miserably.

"Yeah, yeah… whatever…" she said, followed by a loud noise from her stomach, suddenly reminding her of her hunger. And Luke was reminded that his break was long over, so he stood up.

"C'mon, let's go back downstairs and I'll get you something to eat."

"And drink!" she reminded him.

"Of course." He wouldn't have expected any other answer from her… He left his apartment, closely followed by Lorelai, both happy about the weekend to come.

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If you read it all:

THANK YOU!

So what did you think? Have any ideas? Comments? Observations? Complains?


	4. Shopping buddies and sandbag

A/N: Thanks to all reviews they make my days a lot better! I really like to know what you've been thinking, please feel free to share your thoughts on my story.

I want to thank the best betas in the whole entire universe: MrsDionysiusOGall and OzDust !

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Chapter 4 - Shopping buddies and sandbagged eyes.

NEXT DAY- 2 DAYS UNTIL THE REUNION

Luke observed a very tired-looking Lorelai drag herself to the closest table; she had her hair up in a loose ponytail and wore glasses (mainly to hide the dark circles under her eyes; she was so exhausted, her vision remained foggy either way). She dropped her head on the table, leaving her purse on her lap.

"Coffee?" Luke asked the un-Lorelai-like Lorelai sitting in front of him.

"Mmmm…" Her head rose, sniffing the air from that coffee goodness aroma coming from a cup, a cup that Luke had recently put in front of her. "You…" She took her first gulp. "Are…" Second. "My…" Third. "Hero!" She smiled up at him.

"Yeah, yeah, just don't sue me when you die at a young age…"

He waited a second for a witty comeback, but it never came.

"Lorelai, are you ok?" He sounded worried, and he truly was; Lorelai had dropped her head on one arm, again; and was trying to drink her coffee while in that position (need I say it wasn't working?).

She noticed that Luke was still standing next to her; had he just asked her something? She hadn't heard anything. She turned her face, still not removing it from her arm; in a way, she could see him entirely, not just his feet like she saw from her previous position. She saw Luke looking at her expectantly; yep, he had definitely asked her something…

"What did you say?" she said, looking up at Luke's face, her head still firmly resting on her arm.

"Are you ok? You don't look so good…" He saw her flinch at his comment. "I mean, you look …" He was trying to think of the right thing to say; he didn't want to piss off a tired Lorelai.

"Yeah, well, every vain cell in my body is too tired to care." She finally gave up drinking her coffee with her head down on her arm, and straightened up to take a big gulp. "Besides I had to work last night… Dotty called me at eleven last night to change a few things at the reunion, _two_ days before it happens, _two _days! She had months! I would have had months, now she wants to change it, NOW!" Lorelai began to get exasperated. Luke reacted the only way he knew how: he filled her mug again. "Thanks, and keep ´em coming!" She gave him a tired smile, took off her glasses and tried to rub the tiredness out of her eyes. It didn't work…

"How about a doughnut?" Luke asked sympathetically.

Lorelai immediately stopped rubbing her eyes, gave him another smile and a nod; that made him hurry up to grab her doughnut.

She immediately took a bite of her doughnut. Who knew she was hungry? How could Luke have known if even she didn't? She had put her glasses back on, noticing the time: 8 A.M. She had only slept four hours… no wonder she was feeling sooo tired… She had given the morning off to everybody on the staff who had helped her out last night/morning; but she was the boss, and the boss couldn't take the morning off…Being the boss didn't sound so appealing in these kind of situations…

Luke saw that she had already finished the doughnut--any normal person would have taken at least double the time to eat it; so he brought her a new one; because, also different from any normal person, she could eat them like there was no tomorrow.

"It's amazing how this kinda junk makes you happy; it's almost like you're more awake now," he observed.

"Oh it's not the doughnut, it's all in the magic of coffee, baby!" Although she seemed more awake, she wasn't up to full speed yet…

"They must have made quite a few changes on the reunion thing…I mean they were able to achieve something I've been trying to do for years." That got Lorelai's attention. "They made you quiet! That is a very hard thing to do…"

"Yeah, they wore me out… and not in a good way either…" She took an awfully long gulp of wonderful coffee, but she was still moving in slow motion, for Gilmore standards, that is.

"I can see…" Luke chuckled, amused by the effects of tiredness on her; she looked at him in disbelief.

"Don't insult my tired appearance! It's not fair when I'm too tired to actually care…" She tried not to smile at the image of her grumpy friend chuckling at her. "And I could have slept another hour if Lilly hadn't decided to call and chat…" She snorted. "She felt the sudden urge to chat with me at seven A.M.! After I spent the whole night working because of her! It almost makes me miss the clean-freak couple…"

"Who?" Luke was totally lost by now; how women had the ability to understand each other was still a great mystery to him.

"Never mind." She smiled at his '_I sooo don't know what you're talking about'_ face. "And you know why she wanted to chat at 7A.M.?" She was feeling almost in awake mode now.

"Should I try to answer?" He felt defeated; what the hell was she talking about…

She ignored his question and went on with her explanation.

"She wanted to remind me to dress properly at the reunion!" She dropped both hands on the counter in indignation. "Like I don't know THAT! I've been doing these things for years. Who does she think I am? Who does she think she is? I swear, if I could somehow kill her…and get away with it!" She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. "And you know why she HAD to remind me to dress properly?" she said in a voice mocking Lilly.

"I'm not supposed to answer that either…right?" Luke was not very good with rhetorical questions…

"Riiight!" Oops, she sounded mad at him; so Luke, wise man that he is, decided to refill her empty mug. He knew that would distract her enough to forget about the interruption.

She drank her coffee while hot, forgetting his rude interruption, but not forgetting that she was in the middle of a rant.

"She just HAD to wake me up to gimme this useful piece of advice cuz the other day, when she came to my house without warning, I might add, I was wearing my _hot momma_ t-shirt with my _juicy_ pants. Now, I thought that was an excellent combo, I mean it's not every t-shirt that goes with those pants…they are extremely picky, and sometimes they fight if I wear it with conservative shirts…" She paused to check if he was getting her point, which, of course, he wasn't.

"Yeah, it happens with me too." Luke answered sarcastically.

"So just cuz she went to my house unannounced and saw me in that outfit, she's scared I'll ruin the entire reunion with scandalous clothes!" She finished with a snort of disbelief.

"Does she really think you would wear that to an event at the Inn?" He couldn't believe this woman either.

"Hey I'm the wild child that got pregnant at 16, anything's possible…" She had calmed down.

"I don't like her…" He really didn't. How could someone just assume the worst of people based on one fact…you know what they say about people who assume…

"Wait 'til you meet her in person…" Lorelai answered unexcitedly, and then pointed at her empty mug, hoping he would pick up the ´subtle meaning of her gesture.

"Can't wait…" He turned around, ignoring her; he had noticed her gesture (of course) and there was no way she was drinking any more coffee…not from him, anyways. And in spite of what Lorelai thought, he still had other clients to serve. And since he still had the coffee pot in hand (ok, half a pot) he decided to go around the diner to see who needed a refill, besides Lorelai that is.

"Luuuuuke!" She sing-songed his name while he tried his best to ignore her. "Luuukey!" She tried again with no success; he suddenly found the other side of the diner sooo interesting…

"Don't pretend you didn't hear me!" Luke proceeded on his rounds, coffee pot in hand. "Your hearing was fine 'til a minute ago!" She was louder than she intended, of course, she blamed it all on her frustration with him ignoring her; and when he continued doing so, she decided she had to try a different approach…

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Luke saw Lorelai stand up from her chair, and for once, he thought he had won; she was leaving without drinking any more coffee just like he wanted, for once. But when she didn't pick up her purse or jacket, he realized she was probably coming to yell at him for ignoring her. But then she walked right past him through the curtains and up to his apartment (he could hear her angry steps on the stairs). What was she going to do now? He soon followed her, after telling Caesar to take care of the diner; he was not about to leave a crazy woman in his apartment, alone.

He entered his home and looked directly into the kitchen; he was certain Lorelai was going to be fussing with his coffeemaker, but found nothing, no Lorelai there. Then he heard some noise coming from the… oh no!

"Lorelai, what are you doing in my bedroom?" He stepped into his bedroom; almost all his flannels were on over his bed, and in front of his open closet, Lorelai was with a hanger in hand, obviously surprised by his presence.

"Jeez, almost gave me a stroke!" She put her hand over her heart, which was beating a mile a minute; then she turned around and threw the hanger she was holding on top of the others on Luke's bed.

"Are you sure that's not your artery-clogging-breakfast's fault?" He moved closer to take a better look at what she was doing, still not understanding. Lorelai had already moved back to her doings.

"Lorelai?" He tried to get her attention.

"Huh?" She didn't turn, still occupied shuffling through Luke's closet.

"What are you doing going through all my stuff?" He let a thin vestige of anger rise on his voice; he was obviously losing patience…

"Well…" She turned around, carefully examining a navy blue sweater she had just picked out from his closet. "I was sitting downstairs thinking about what I'm gonna wear this weekend. I was doing a pre-selection in my mind to make it easier to choose when the day comes, ya know, what's _proper_ enough." She started playing with the soft fabric of Luke's sweater. "And then it occurred to me… What is Luke gonna wear to this thing? Is it appropriate? Is it flannel? So I decided to ask, but you kept ignoring me…" She pouted a little, making Luke smile (slightly, of course…). "So when you didn't answer my pleading, I just decided to see for myself." She finished, still holding the same sweater.

After a couple of seconds of his not saying anything, she thought that maybe she hadn't been clear enough.

"And that's what I'm doing…here," she pointed at the wood floor, "…in your apartment. I'm selecting viable options for the weekend; so far, I've only found this sweater." She showed him the one she'd been holding and threw it over her shoulder.

"Lorelai, I know how to dress myself." He was on the edge of being mad at her; who did she think she was barging into his apartment like that? And going through all his things…that stuff was private…and now she wanted to show him how he should dress…_who died and__ made her the boss of me?_

"I know Luke, you're just a little repetitive." She pointed at the big pile of flannel on the bed, but before he could say anything, she continued. "It's just that this reunion's pretty important to me, it's like my second chance with these people, you know?" She looked at him meaningfully. "They all just think I'm worth nothing cuz I got pregnant at the wrong time, and I can finally prove them wrong by showing them how much better I have it now!"

"You don't have to prove anything to these people." He sat on the small space left on his bed.

"I know…" She sat next to him. "But I want to."

"Ok, but what does my clothing have to do with anything?"

"You're part of the new me! You're coming with me and we're gonna kick ass!" she explained excitedly.

"Then go through my closet, pick whatever you want." He noticed the sudden glow in her eyes. "Let me say that again, pick whatever you think is right for the weekend." She smiled broadly at that. "Just put everything back where you found it!"

She pouted.

"Yes, _mom_!"

He rolled his eyes at her response.

"I'll be downstairs if you need me." Luke stood up and left her to do her thing.

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1 HOUR LATER

"That's it, I give up!" Lorelai entered the diner through the curtains and sat at the stool in front of Luke; there were now two pants and one new sweater to keep company with the navy one, all on her shoulder. "Gimme some coffee, presto!"

He looked at her in disbelief.

"Why are my clothes on your shoulder?" he asked while he quickly filled a mug and handed it to her.

"Cuz that's all there is!" she exclaimed, exasperated. "These are the only outfits you own that are not flannel, or too casual, or too chillin´ at home, or pjs!"

"You went through my pjs too?"

"Of course not; I wasn't looking for sleepwear, was I? Besides, I sooo don't wanna know what you wear when you sleep; I'll be disappointed if it's not flannel…" She smiled knowingly.

"So sue me, I have a lot of flannel!" he said, annoyed by her constant bugging. She laughed at his reaction, but didn't forget her point.

"Luke, are you free this afternoon?" She certainly made him forget about thinking about how mad he was at her.

"Why?"

"We have to go do some shopping for you! The reunion is in two days and you don't have anything to wear. Now I could just send you on your own, but I don't trust you; or I could call Rory to help, cuz I know today's a slow day for her, but I figured that would be kinda weird for you two."

He agreed.

"So that leaves us with, well, us, me and you going to the mall this afternoon to fix this fashion crisis! So, what do you think? Can you do it?" She looked at him hopefully, using her best puppy-dog eyes.

He hated going to the mall, and he could not imagine what a crazy thing it would be to go to the mall with a Gilmore girl…But she did make it sound like something really important to her so maybe he could give in this once, for a friend…

"Yeah, I can go." She smiled at his positive answer. "As long as you don't call it a fashion crisis!" He flinched at what he had just been obliged to repeat, _men didn't have fashion crises…_

"'K, I'll call it something else! How about a clothing contigency? Is that more manly?" She smiled innocently.

"Lorelai…" He said warningly.

"Yeah, yeah…I'll come back at four; be prepared… Have your credit card in hand!" she said before she left the diner and went to the Inn.

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Luke looked at his watch: _4:30 P.M_.

He had gone up to his apartment at _3:00_, taken a shower, changed into some clean clothes (ones that didn't smell like coffee and burgers). He then went back downstairs and decided to work while Lorelai didn't arrive. At _4:00,_ Caesar reminded him that Lorelai should've been at the diner by now. At _4:15_, Caesar told him to chill and that he looked nervous (What? He wasn't nervous, of course, why would he be nervous?) And now, at _4:30_, there he was, wiping the counter and smelling like burgers and coffee again. At _4:45_, Hurricane Lorelai came in, dragging herself to a stool.

"Sorry, Luke. I'm late, couldn't leave sooner." She looked up at him.

"No big deal…" he answered nonchalantly. "Are you ready to go?" He could see the tiredness on her eyes. "I'll drive."

Was he anxious to go to the mall? They both asked themselves.

"Ok!" She stood up. "But we're taking the jeep." She handed him the keys and they left for the mall.

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FIVE HOURS LATER

"How can you like shopping? We just spent four hours walking around pointlessly and spending my money on things I'll use once! People are really rude, even competitive about items that are on sale; I mean, that woman almost choked me to get that shirt!" Luke continued the endless rant he had been giving Lorelai since they left the mall. He pushed the diner door open and entered it, arms full of bags.

"I though you liked walking…It's exercise you know…" Lorelai said, following him upstairs to drop the bags she was helping carry to his apartment.

"That was not exercise!" he said, leaving his bags on top of the coffee table, then went to the kitchen to grab a beer.

"You're right, it's more of a relaxation process…it's what's kept me out of therapy…" She left her bags with his and dramatically sat on the couch, took her shoes off and put her feet on top of the small table. She sighed with relief; there's nothing better than taking off your high-heeled shoes after a hard day at the mall…

"Want a beer?" Luke asked, holding the freezer door open.

"Just one, I still have work to do…" She caressed her temples; she felt exhausted…

"You should rest…" He handed her a beer after sitting next to her on the couch.

"Can't, too much to do, little time, must kill Gucci Nazis!" She was still caressing her temples; only now, she was using the cold bottle of beer to do so.

He observed her tiredness and tried to think of something to say that would convince her to slow down; nothing came to mind, just a big blank.

"You should sleep a couple of hours, recover your energy; when you wake, you'll be good to go." He tried to convince her it was for the best.

"That's not how it works with me." She opened her beer and took a big gulp. "I can't sleep for a couple of hours; when I sleep, I _really_ sleep, you know? I need at least eight hours, or else I get cranky…" She pouted, then drank her cool, refreshingly nice beer.

"Well, if that's how you feel…" Luke gave up on convincing her; he should have known better than to try to convince a Gilmore into doing something they don't want to.

"Yep…" She realized her beer was finished; she couldn't remember beer bottles not lasting this long in the past…

"I don't wanna keep you from work," Luke said after noticing Lorelai observing her now empty bottle.

"Riiight…I should be going…" She stood up. "You know I had fun today." She smiled at her grumpy friend, who used all his will not to smile back, too broadly that is. "You'll be my new shopping buddy!" she exclaimed enthusiastically.

"Didn't you have to leave?" Luke certainly didn't like her idea; did he possess enough energy to become Lorelai's new shopping buddy? And the answer was no.

"Oh yeah…" Her shoulders dropped. "I don't wanna go…" She whined. "They're eeevil!" She whined some more.

"The sooner you go, the sooner you'll be able to go home and sleep." He tried to reason with her.

"Ooh, right. You have a point…I'm gone!" Lorelai said, then disappeared down the stairs and out the diner.

Luke smiled when she left, he had had fun today too; maybe he could handle a whole weekend of Lorelai.

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FRIDAY, D-DAY

So today was the day. It would all start today, the weekend from hell, a.k.a. her punishment for everything wrong she ever did. No one deserved to go through all of this trouble just to, in the end, see people they didn't wish to see. That and she was looking like crap too; yep, sleepless nights can do that to you; even beautiful people, like herself, were affected by mortal ills such as tiredness and dark circles under the eyes. But she had to recover by tonight, because there was no way she would be ugly TONIGHT, of all nights. She had to look her best if she wanted to show those gossip-y people that she had made it in life! Only the truth was: right now, she didn't feel like a success; she couldn't care less about success, and she wanted to kill the bastard who invented alarm clocks.

Lorelai sat at her desk, staring intensely at a piece of paper; the only problem was, she couldn't read it. Not in the "I never went to school, so I can't read" way; she couldn't read because she was too tired to have the incredible ability of focusing her vision on tiny details such as letters. She was suddenly startled by her obnoxiously loud cell phone.

"What?" she answered in a tone that would warn the caller about her not-so-good mood.

"Oh hello to you too, mommy dearest!"

"Oh, hi Rory…"

"So…I called to find out how the last-minute plans for the infamous reunion are going?"

"Arg…" Lorelai grunted in response; although it was a simple grunt, profound dislike could be heard.

"Oh oh, that bad, huh?"

"Yeah, they're trying to kill me; it's an attempt to murder me! I should report them!" Lorelai said, being the drama queen she was.

"Come on…it can't be that bad!" Rory said, letting a small chuckle escape; she knew her mom was probably overreacting…

"Guernica seemed like a nice dream compared to what they've put me through!"

"Wow, was there bombing too?" Rory decided to play along with her mom's crazy comparison; she seemed serious about it…better to help her get it all out before she decided she needed to have a breakdown in the middle of the reunion.

"Worse, they used a chemical mass destruction type-y weapon; I think I probably have some rare French-named disease right about now…" Although she was talking crazy, she did sound/feel sick…

"That IS bad. Why French?"

"It seemed appropriate…"

"I thought it would have to be a Spanish-named disease, with the Guernica and Picasso reference…"

"Oh, but French is sophisticated, and elite sophisticated people only get rare diseases that have French names!" Lorelai used a '_this is obvious'_ tone.

"Enlightening…"

"Thought so." Lorelai obviously didn't feel like talking…otherwise she would have been talking non-stop by now.

"So, besides the new French-named disease, was there any progress last night?"

"Yep, we're actually done with the whole thing, thank God…" She sighed in relief. "The _ladies_ had to leave early last night, so we were able to actually work without the whole _constructive criticism _…I'm only working 'til lunchtime, then I have the entire afternoon off to beautify myself!"

"Right, cuz you have to kick ass tonight!" Rory said excitedly.

"Is that the lingo they teach at that fancy expensive school of yours? Seriously, I could have sent you to the ghetto instead!" Lorelai faked indignation.

"I'll just ignore your last comment…you should take advantage of your free time and get some sleep; that will help with the beautifying process too!"

"That was actually part of my plan! And believe me when I say: I can't wait!" She was still trying to focus her vision enough so she could read the paper in her hands, no such luck…She really needed to read that…

"Ok, so I'll let you get back to your work." Lorelai growled at that. "I know we've talked about it but…Are you sure you don't want me to come and help you tonight?" Rory was on the edge of begging here; she wanted to help her mom, and more importantly, she wanted her to have a good time.

"I've told you it's not necessary, I'm a mother, I'm trying to shield you from these people!"

"But I don't want you to overwork yourself just to hide from them! You should try to have a nice time…"

"That's very _Rory_ of you, hon; but I don't need you here to be my buffer or just a distraction… Besides, I have Luke; I'm sure he won't want to be by himself in the middle of this cheery reunion, so he will probably be the one hiding behind me!" _What had she done to deserve such an amazing kid?_

"I had forgotten that Luke was going with you… Now I'm calm, I trust Luke; he'll take good care of my mommy." She used her sweet-little-girl voice.

"Mommy promises she'll be fine." Sometimes she wondered who the mom in this relationship was.

"'K, I'll call you tomorrow to find out how everything went! Break a leg mom!"

"Thanks kid, bye…"

"Bye!" Then she hung up.

After Rory's call, Lorelai still tried to get some work done, although that proved to be a nearly impossible task to achieve, especially while she was finding it so hard to keep her eyes open. That's when she decided to develop a new way of working, actually the only way that seemed to be working; she only kept one eye open. It felt easier to fight against just one sandbagged eye…But that only worked for a while, because before she knew it, she was fast asleep…

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	5. Chapter 5 – Dart girl flying late!

**Hey it's update time!**

**First, I want to say sorry for taking longer to update… But it was Carnival week here and I just had to travel to the beach and party! I know, just terrible…**

**I was trying to think of something I could say that would express my profound liking of your reviews, so I came up with this:**

**I love it as much as I love coffee and chocolate! (now re-read my pen name…got it?) That's how much I appreciate your reviews!**

**I want to thank my betas, the best eva!**

**MrsDionysiosOGall : What would I do without you? For her knowledge of not just grammar, but everything! She's really fast too!**

**OzDust: This's girl's not only an awesome beta, but she also comes with a complementary pshychitrist kit… Thanks for keeping up w/ minute-mail!**

**On with the story….**

**Any questions at all; all you have to do is ask!**

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Chapter 5 – Dart girl flying late!

Michel found it incredibly odd that Lorelai hadn't left her office yet, especially since she looked so eager to do so earlier that morning. Her shift had finished about thirty minutes ago, and he would not be surprised if she was sleeping at her desk and hadn't realized the time yet. He had seen her this morning and she looked like '_merde'_ if you would ask him… Her hair was a complete mess and she had bags under her eyes; he almost felt sorry for her. Almost. Maybe it would be better to check on her; she could have died of fatigue or something… Not that he cared or anything…

Michel opened her office door to find Lorelai sleeping at her desk, her back askew--that would probably hurt in the near future. Her curls, covering her face, looked like they wouldn't let air pass through, but Michel could see the rise and fall of her respiration, so he was pretty certain she was breathing. He nudged her shoulder trying to wake her, but she was no light sleeper…

"Lorrrelai…" He tried the combination of nudging with softly calling her name, but then again softly wasn't the right approach… "Lorrelai." He shook her a little; she showed no sign of waking up.

He took a few steps back; maybe he should just leave her there--she would eventually wake up. Although she had that thing she had been complaining about tonight, and she would probably be a bit mad if he didn't wake her up and she ended up being late for this event… But the truth was, Michel had had it with being nice, and he really could never wake someone, so he decided to try extreme measures, if it meant his job was at risk. He yelled her name, he yelled like never before, and forgetting about his classiness for a minute…and it worked. Lorelai suddenly jerked her head his way.

"Where's the fire?" She sounded annoyed, although that is very common with people who are so rudely awakened.

"No fire, just thought you would like to know that your shift is over and you can finally sleep at your hose." and his classiness was back.

"Oh thank God!" She grabbed her stuff and fixed her hair a little, she was going home! "We'll talk about your rude wake-up call later… I won't forget!" Chances were high that Michel could convince her that this had been just a dream…and she knew it.

Lorelai left the Inn and headed directly home, and to her so-beloved bed.

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She was flying over town, the view was beautiful and everything seemed so small so… unimportant from up there, high in the sky. She didn't know how she had gotten up there; the only thing she did know was that she was, without a doubt, flying; and she liked it. She also knew that she hadn't metamorphosed into a bird; she couldn't feel any feathers and she didn't need to move her arms to steady herself in the air. It was like she was gliding. She must have still had the same appearance because people on the ground still waved "hello" when she flew by. She felt the wind blow all around her, like a gentle caress; she hadn't felt this relaxed in a long time…

She had always wanted to be a super-hero as a kid; she even tried jumping off the roof of her house once; don't need to say that Emily hadn't appreciated her idea (especially since she broke her arm on said attempt, also interrupting a very important meeting with the D.A.R.) Emily thought that super-hero ideas were outrageous! Didn't she know she was supposed to behave like a girl?

But right now, all that seemed silly, stupid; and in some way, she could prove her mother wrong, she _was_ flying after all! Then she heard a loud 'THUD!' that rudely interrupted her thoughts; but when she looked around in search of a thunderstorm, she only saw the beautiful-clear-bluest sky of Stars Hollow. Lorelai just ignored the weird sound; she probably had just imagined it… And since this flying situation was pretty unique, she decided to take some advantage of it, she flew to the highest point she could get, the view was breathtaking… She tried to focus on something on the ground, like a target (if she were a dart). Her plan was to catapult herself to the ground and at the last second go up again, she'd always wanted to know how _that_ felt… After taking some encouraging breaths, she truly ignored her fears and dove into thin air in the direction of the ground. She was starting to feel complete freedom, when she heard it again, 'THUD!' followed by, 'THUD! THUUUD! THUD! THUD!'. That made her lose all concentration; she started to fall and instead of thinking of a reasonable solution, her brain was currently too busy panicking! It didn't get better as the seconds passed; she only started accepting her fate as a dead woman and even philosophized the existence of life after death; the cold-hard ground becoming a closer and closer reality… And then she heard the last 'THUD!'; she was certain she had died… Though she remembered the floor as being something more solid and way less…cozy. It was then that she opened her eyes and felt the warm, fluffy comforter all around her… But even though she was awake now, she still kept hearing those loud 'THUD!'s… And that's when she figured that the obnoxious, loud noise wasn't just inside her head; it was actually coming from downstairs…

She quickly ran downstairs, almost falling on the stairs a couple of times, due to her sleepy dizziness…

Lorelai opened her door to reveal a very well-dressed Luke Danes staring back at her, and he was ready to knock loudly at her door again, with his arm already raised and his fist closed.

"What took you so long?" Luke _greeted_ her, obviously unaware of Lorelai's inappropriate attire that consisted of ocean-blue _Finding Nemo_ jammies.

"Why are you here?" As soon as she said it, she noticed how Luke was dressed; she was late! "Am I late?" She looked at him horrified; he just nodded affirmatively. "I'm late! I'm late! I'm late! No, no, no, no! This can't be happening…" Her shoulders drooped in defeat. But she still didn't know what time it was… "What time is it?" She was prepared for the worst…

"It's 5:15…" he said in a low voice as a way to try to keep her from freaking out, which didn't happen….

"Oh no! There's no way I'm gonna be ready so fast!" She was starting to panic now. "How am I supposed to look pretty in less than an hour? I mean, look at me!" She stopped her frantic movement to look at her reflection in the foyer mirror, "Ohmygod! I look awful!" She hadn't imagined that she had _'obviously-just-outta-bed'_ face… "Not today… Of all the days to have puffy eyes!" She let out a low, prolonged moan.

But before she could resume lamenting her lateness, Luke interrupted with a loud: "Lorelai!" He said it firmly too. "Focus," he said in a calm and steady voice, looking reassuringly into her eyes. "Everything's gonna be fine." He landed a hand on her arm to stop her next hissy fit. "Why don't you just go upstairs and get ready?"

Her eyes grew wide at that. "But….but…I'll never get ready on time!" She was about to start another mini-rant when Luke grabbed her shoulders and guided her to the stairs.

"I'll be down here if you need anything." He pushed her gently up the first step. "Yell if you need anything!"

She quickly climbed the stairs, turning around at the last one.

"Thanks, Luke!" She smiled broadly at him.

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TEN MINUTES LATER, DOWNSTAIRS

Luke had already looked at all the pictures above her fireplace, had made a mental list of things he could fix for her, arranged the pillows on the sofa, had sat on the sofa and now, was repetitively walking from one end of the living room to the other. If he had been a cartoon, he would have made a hole in the floor by now, but then again, if he were a cartoon, he would have found something better to do… Luke checked his watch; it had only been ten minutes. He decided he would sit on the couch again… He was probably just bored, that was obviously the reason that he was feeling so uneasy; it had nothing to do with his nerves…

"Luuuuke!" yelled Lorelai from the upper part of the house.

Had Lorelai just yelled for him? Was he that nervous that he was imagining things now? He was just losing his mind, that was it; he sure hung out with a lot of basket cases in this town, maybe it was just now having some effect on him…

"Luuuke! Can you come here?" came the yelling again.

He felt relieved; he wasn't losing it after all… She had called him…umph…he swallowed dryly…she had called him upstairs. There was no need to feel nervous about it… She probably needed his help with… with…zipping her dress, yep, that was it. She needed help with that…

"Did you hear me?" came Lorelai's more exasperated voice.

"Yeah…I'm coming!" He just had to remember how to climb the stairs again… He tried to focus on it, but images of half-naked Lorelais kept rushing through his mind; of course, he knew she wouldn't be half-naked when he got upstairs… He then tried just to stare at the steps, expecting them to give him a solution, no luck there; apparently, steps can't talk. He took a few breaths and inwardly laughed at his previous ridiculous thoughts, and then he climbed the stairs with success.

He got upstairs to find a closed door in front of him, so he did what was logical, he knocked…

Lorelai jerked the door open at the first knock. She was just wearing just a towel; behind her there was chaos, clothes strewn all around the room.

"Luke, you have to help me! I have _nothing_ to wear!" She said that as if the huge piles of clothes didn't exist. "I never got over the pre-selection of what to wear tonight! I was supposed to do it tonight, if I wasn't this late!"

Luke couldn't really hear what she was saying. He was too distracted with the Lorelai-is-in-just-a-towel-in-front-of-me thought that kept repeating in his head, so he was actually happy when she went to her bathroom; now he could recompose himself.

"You want me to pick something out for you to wear tonight?" He wasn't understanding where the logic was in that statement…

"Yeah, otherwise I'll never get ready on time!" She came out of the bathroom carrying a curling iron, and then plugged it. "I still have to do my hair!" she said, pointing at her head.

Lorelai started styling her hair with much practice, the way that she could do it with only one hand and without dropping her towel was truly a mystery to Luke… He decided to look over her clothes, a task he found easier to do than trying not to look at Lorelai in just a towel…

After several unsuccessful attempts of presenting the perfect outfit to Lorelai, and even more unsuccessful attempts of Lorelai trying to make Luke understand the true importance of THE right outfit, Luke had almost given up. Of course, he wouldn't do that; he had promised to help and he knew just how important this night was to her. He would never let a friend down. It was then that he saw the silky smooth black fabric from under an enormous pile of clothes. He pulled it out from under it really fast, not destroying the integrity of the pile (like a magician, when pulling a towel off of a table without moving the plates). The piece of clothing was actually a dress, plain black; he liked it. It was short, but not too short, it had some cleavage, but not enough to seem slutty, and it tied around the neck; Luke thought Lorelai would look really good in it.

"Lorelai, what do you think of this one?" He moved closer to her and showed her the wrinkled, black dress.

"Just a sec..." she answered, finishing her last curl. She looked up into the mirror and seemed satisfied; then she turned around and saw the dress Luke was holding. "Oh…that dress…I had forgotten all about it…" She pondered a bit. "Yeah, I guess it could do!" She smiled up at him. "But it is a little wrinkled…" She narrowed her eyes examining it.

"I could iron it for you." Luke knew her well enough to figure that she wanted him to answer her that way.

"Thanks Lukey!" she said enthusiastically. "Now hurry, I'm gonna be up here putting my makeup on!"

Lorelai was relieved that she finally had a dress; now she could settle on a color for eye shadow, lipstick, blush… She got to it right away; she was still planning to look fabulous tonight!

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6:10 P.M. - AT THE DRAGONFLY INN

Lorelai and Luke had rushed all the way from Lorelai's house; they had expected to arrive much later, but it turned out they were only ten minutes late. Quite an accomplishment if you asked Lorelai! It had been more than fifteen years since the last time she had gotten ready this fast, and the result had been satisfactory.

They decided to take only one car, no need to occupy guest parking spaces for no reason… Luke drove since Lorelai had still to put her shoes on when they left the house; he parked the green truck and they both quickly got out and went into the Dragonfly.

"Lorelai, you're late." Michel said when the two reached the reception desk.

"Yeah, yeah… Get over it…" Lorelai answered, not truly paying attention to Michel's comments. She had to focus all her attention into walking in these shoes, or just standing up straight…

Luke had come in with Lorelai, but was currently being ignored by the French attendant.

"Michel, give me my keys," Lorelai said before Michel could continue his unnecessary comments. She just wanted to drop her things off in her room and get this night over with.

"You have no work ethic at all, coming in late for an appointment… Do I have to do everything here?" He moved really slowly to grab the key, I'm talking snail's pace here!

"Give me the keys, Michel!" Ok, so maybe he had successfully accomplished his task of annoying the hell out of Lorelai, and Luke, who wasn't really participating, but was equally annoyed… That made Michel move even slower…

"Sometimes, Michel forgets who's the boss here…" Lorelai stage-whispered to Luke, who just smiled weakly. He too just wanted to drop off the bags (his and Lorelai's) that he had been holding.

"I do not. I, not like others, have work ethics very clear in my head!" Michel answered in his best snobby way; and, if possible, he moved slower.

"That's it! I'll get the freaking keys!" Lorelai moved behind the desk, typed a few things on the computer, and then grabbed a key with a big number _7_ printed on a little leather card attached to it. "Here, Luke. You can go get comfy in your room." Lorelai handed him the key.

He grabbed the key, but before he went upstairs, he turned "What about your bag?" He pointed at one of the two bags he was carrying, the one that was bright pink with '_Penelope Pitstop'_ printed on it, his was green, army-style.

"Take it with you, I'll come grab it later…" She smiled warmly. "I need to have a little serious talk with Michel, now…" She looked coldly at Michel.

Luke felt it was better for his safety that he should just move far away from those two when they were having a fight; because if he had just witnessed them behaving in a friendly way with each other, well, he didn't want to see them argue… So he wisely marched upstairs to room number seven…

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Luke took his time in his room, not that he needed much time to organize himself. He just didn't deal very well with _different_, and tonight was about to become (more like continue…) to be a very _different_ night. He didn't even know if he had already gotten over the initial shock of being invited to this thing, consequently, he hadn't even started to process the fact that he had seen Lorelai in just a towel. She was his best friend, and that just confused him more…

He figured he had already spent way too much time in his room, and that he should probably just suck it up, be a man; and not be nervous. He should just go downstairs and be a good reliable friend, be Lorelai's date, as a friend, of course…

Luke left the room (his sanctuary…) and went downstairs, where he could already hear the loud buzzing of a small crowd and a live band playing softly in the background. He took his time with the stairs and ever so slowly walked into the ballroom, which usually was just the dining room. But they had moved some tables around so that now there was a respectable dance floor in the center in front of the band; the place looked nice, very _prom_-like… He scanned the room trying to find Lorelai, but that was no good; he would have to actually walk around to be able see her in the middle of so many people…

Luke walked around trying to mingle with the crowd, trying to look like he belonged here, but the truth was that he was breaking out in a cold sweat now… People kept staring at him, probably just to see if they could recognize him, but, still, it made him nervous, uncomfortable and that just made him rush to find Lorelai, the only person he knew in the whole room. Then he saw her, laughing uneasily, totally trapped in the middle of loud laughing look-alike women. She looked like she could just run away anytime soon… He felt sorry for her; she was probably feeling as uncomfortable as he was, so he decided to help her. He approached her and rested his hand on her waist; she turned around surprised, but smiled when she saw whose hand it was. The other women stopped talking, waiting for introductions; Lorelai quickly understood that from all the sudden stares they received.

"Girls, this is Luke!" Lorelai pointed at Luke, who smiled politely. "Luke, these are…" she tried to remember their names, but had no luck, they all looked the same… "The girls!" she exclaimed, faking enthusiasm.

"Nice to meet you ladies." Luke smiled charmingly; they all nodded and smiled back, acknowledging the handsome man. "Would you excuse me and Lorelai for a moment?" He gave them a full-toothed smile now; charm will get you anywhere…

"Of course, be excused!" one of the women answered, and then laughed loudly at her not-so-funny joke; the others soon followed.

Luke took the little time they all seemed busy laughing loudly to gently push Lorelai forward and out of her trap; she seemed happy to do so. He guided her to an almost empty side of the ballroom and they both sat at a nearby table.

"Thank you!" Lorelai exclaimed as soon as she sat. "You saved me! You have no idea how bored I was…"

"I saw your face from across the room, it was screaming for help." He chuckled.

"It wasn't just my face, I was screaming on the inside too!" She laughed lightly.

"So, it looks like it's all going well," Luke said while noticing all the people that had showed up. "The place's packed."

"Yeah, these people just can't skip an event!" She looked around, also absorbing the crowd. "Did you just come from upstairs or were you looking for me for a while?" she said, changing the subject.

"Just came down." He saw that she wanted him to elaborate a little more. "I was afraid I would run into Michel if I came down too early."

"Riiiight…" she answered disbelievingly. "You were afraid of Michel…." Lorelai was clearly not buying it; she looked at him seriously, challenging him to tell the truth.

"Okay, so maybe that's not it…" He thought that maybe just admitting she was right would be enough to stop her staring, but it didn't; so he continued. "I wasn't looking forward to being surrounded by so many people, you know I'm not a very social guy…"

"You behaved like a true pro back there," she pointed at the women they had escaped from. "Those women were all fanning themselves when we left; they all been charmed by Luke Danes." She spoke the last part like a true Southern belle.

"Yeah right…" Luke said in disbelief.

Lorelai just smiled at his modesty.

"Really Luke, if you had told me you would feel this uncomfortable coming here, I wouldn't have asked you to." Lorelai smiled reassuringly, turning serious again.

"Like you would let me say _no_." Like he could ever say _no_ to Lorelai.

Lorelai feigned offense. "I would have hesitated ever so slightly…" She smiled sweetly; he couldn't be mad at her, so he just had to smile back.

"But that French guy is a putz!"

"Oh yeah, he's very proud of it."

"So I never had the chance to…" And he was interrupted.

"Lorelai!" came the loud screechy sound of Lilly's voice from beside their table.

"Oh, hey Lilly!" Now Lorelai had already exceeded faking enthusiasm with the Nazis… She got up from her chair and gestured Luke to do the same.

"You look really nice! Love the dress… Armani, isn't it?" Lilly held a man close by the hand.

"I don't think so…" Lilly had no idea of the real world's financial reality… "You look nice too!" She tried to sound as excited as Lilly did.

"Oh, this old thing…" Lilly unwrinkled her wrinkleless dress, which was obviously brand new.

"Hi, I'm Frank. Lilly's husband." He offered his hand to Lorelai. "You probably don't remember me, but I was from Chilton too. I have to admit I used to have a crush on you…" He winked seductively at her, was she surprised or what? How could he do that in front of his wife? So Lorelai just laughed at his comment, it was possibly just a joke, right?

"Hi, I'm Luke." Luke had seen the way the _married_ man looked at Lorelai, as if she was a piece of meat; he was no good; so he decided to intervene.

"Is that your escort?" Lilly asked approvingly. "He looks like a nice man," she stage-whispered.

"He is," Lorelai said, smiling at Luke; he blushed a little (in a manly way, of course).

"We ought to be going, lots of people to shake hands with!" Frank said, obviously not too happy about Luke's previous intervention. He took his wife's hand and started walking.

"See you around. Great job Lorelai!" Lilly said, turning around awkwardly in her husband's grip.

"What a dysfunctional couple, they were made for each other…" Lorelai said turning to Luke; now she felt pretty happy to have brought someone, she didn't look like a loser and she didn't have to talk too much with these people.

"Yep, you're right about that… Did you see that guy?" Luke still couldn't believe the audacity of the guy, hitting on someone who was obviously escorted and with his wife standing right next to him no less.

"Yes I saw him alright…" She knew she shouldn't stoke the fire of ranting Luke, this was not the right time or place for ranting Luke, although she had to admit that she liked it when he ranted.

"And with his wife…right there! Un-be-lie-va-ble."

"Just leave it... It's no big deal; these rich guys are all the same… Just ignore them, they'll go away."

Luke understood that she wanted him to stop worrying about that ass; so he did. She was a big girl and could take care of herself.

"So what I was trying to tell you before we were interrupted…"

And, unbelievably, they were interrupted again.

"Lorelai? Lorelai Gilmore, is that you?" came an excited voice from nearby.

"Yes?" Lorelai turned around from Luke to see a familiar face; she narrowed her eyes trying to find that face in the database in her brain… "Sandy?" she asked the very pregnant lady in front of her.

"That's me!" The charismatic lady smiled broadly.

"Oh my gosh!" Lorelai stood and hugged her. "Wow, it's been… forever! And you're pregnant! That's great!"

"I'm happily married too!" She pointed at the man standing next to her. "This's Danny, my husband!" The man shook hands with Lorelai.

"Sandy has mentioned you; she was hoping you would be here tonight."

"That's nice, you have matching movie names!" Lorelai smiled sweetly, Sandy giggled.

"Did you come with someone or…" Sandy asked, searching the room for a nice-looking man.

"Yeah, I came with Luke!" She pointed at the man sitting at the nearest table.

"Cool, they have matching names too!" Sandy whispered to Danny.

"Luuuuke! Come here!" she pouted when he turned around; she knew he wouldn't even try to resist the pout.

Luke stood slowly, pretending to think this was a pain, but was quickly beside Lorelai and the nice-looking couple.

"Luke, these are Sandy and Danny. Sandy was my best friend since kindergarten!" Lorelai explained, now truly excited; maybe this reunion wasn't so bad.

Luke just nodded in acknowledgement; he wasn't the talking kind after all…

"Yeah, we kept in touch even after Lore moved here, but then I went to Princeton…and we lost touch…" Sandy finished a little less thrilled. "Too bad… I didn't know you worked here!"

"I…" Lorelai started, but was interrupted by Luke.

"Actually, she owns the place…" He looked proudly at his friend; he went as far as squeezing her arm, and that in Luke-language was the same as a very proud hug, and Lorelai knew that. So she just smiled warmly at him.

'_Luke's proud of me, Luke's proud of me!'_ was all Lorelai could think of at that moment. She felt so good about it; it's always nice to make a good friend proud! She didn't even know she had been smiling broadly at Luke the whole time…

"That's even better than great!" Sandy answered, almost jumping with excitement; the only thing stopping her was the huge stomach.

"I happen to think that myself." Lorelai tried not to jump up with Sandy, but it was getting harder and harder…

"And how's Rory? She must be a woman now!" Sandy said while holding her pregnant belly protectively.

"She's the best! And I like to think she'll never grow up…but she's nineteen…" Lorelai pouted a bit. "She's the smartest girl; she's at Yale now, far away from mommy…" She faked sadness.

"I'm a Yale man myself! You guys must be so proud!" Danny said, rejoining the conversation and hugging his wife to him.

"We all are! Yale is a great school!"

"We hope that Rizzo here…" Sandy pointed at her belly. "…Is going to be so smart!"

"Rizzo?" Lorelai had thought that the couple having the same name as the characters in '_Grease'_ was sweet, but naming their kid _Rizzo_ was going a little too far…

"I'm kidding!" Sandy giggled, "You should have seen your face! My girl's name's gonna be Sabrina!"

"I like it! Very Audrey Hepburn of you!" They both giggled.

"I think they've officially begun girl talk, we should get ourselves a couple of drinks!" Danny offered Luke.

"I think that would be wise." Luke was amused by the guy's enthusiasm.

"Do you want me to get you a soda, honey?" Danny asked his wife sweetly.

"I can get it for myself, Daniel!" Sandy suddenly seemed to become moody; it was just a pregnant thing…

"She doesn't like the not drinking anything alcoholic part of being pregnant…" Danny explained to Lorelai and Luke, obviously accustomed to his wife's moods by now.

"Do you want anything, Lorelai? A martini?" Luke thought it was his turn to ask, although he feared he would receive the same answer Danny did…

"Nah… I'm good… Thanks!" Lorelai answered, and then turned to Sandy, "Solidarity, sista!"

"Ya-Ya!" They cheered with their glasses of soda.

"We're going… Don't you go missing me!" Danny said in a teasing voice, as he and Luke left them to their girl talk.

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	6. Reunions aren’t so fun when

**Hey it's update time!**

**I tried to update sooner, I was already receiving some threats… ;)**

**But today is the best I could do since my vacations are officially over, thank god (I hate free time), and classes and work have started… **

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Chapter 6 – Reunions aren't so fun when you're married…

Luke and Danny moved to the bar; finding a line, they apparently weren't the only thirsty ones. They waited for a while, Danny trying to start a conversation, and Luke just doing anything he could to stop that from happening. Luke hated people who tried to make others talk against their will; he felt pressured, and became even quieter than usual. After some incredibly awkward minutes, the line finally seemed to move; at least they had something to do now… Moving was good, moving was something he could focus on, and soon he would have his beer, so all was fine with the world.

"This line is long…" Danny stated the obvious after looking at the length of line to the bar.

"Yep" Luke hadn't just gained the monosyllable–man nickname for nothing; he had to keep his rep after all.

"I'll walk along the line; see if I can find someone I know…Then we'll take less time!" Danny obviously thought that was the greatest idea since straightening iron…

"You wanna cut in line?" Luke had a different opinion about Danny's idea… What was he? Four?

"No, of course not. But if I happen to come across someone I know, I guess no one will stop me from starting a conversation with this person." Danny smiled superiorly.

"Right… Go ahead." Luke figured Danny wouldn't come back; he knew he hadn't been a very good company so he couldn't blame him.

Luke stayed in line a little while longer, when he saw Danny approaching him; he was followed by a small group of guys; apparently, he knew a lot of these people…

"You play poker?" Danny asked, handing him a fancy imported beer.

"Yeah." Luke took a big gulp directly from the bottle, stopping when he remembered that that wasn't very polite, though the other guys seemed too drunk to care…

"Guys, Luke's playing!" Danny announced to the others. "What are we waiting?"

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Lorelai and Sandy had been talking nonstop for a long time; they didn't even notice the time go by, and they wouldn't have stopped if it wasn't for Sandy's pregnant need for a bathroom break. Sandy excused herself and promised she would be fast. Lorelai stood alone at the same corner table she and Luke had escaped to. Lorelai scanned the room, lots of familiar faces… She tried to remember other people she had had a civil relationship with during those ancient days, but she had successfully erased that period from her mind.

"Lorelai, there you are!" Dotty came rushing toward her table, almost crashing into it. "I've been looking for you, I wanted to show people our wonderful organizer!" she said _too_ cheerfully, her breath agreed with that…

"I'm just waiting for Sandy, she's in the bathroom." Lorelai tried to reason with the drunk version of Dotty.

"Don't worry, she'll find us!" Dotty grabbed Lorelai's hand, making her stand up. "The girls are dying to see you!" She leaned on Lorelai, trying to regain her balance.

"No, I'm the one dying…" she answered sarcastically; of course, Dotty being a little drunk, thought that was just a really funny joke, and started laughing loudly.

"Ok, this way! Follow me!" Dotty marched ahead, walking in S-shaped paths; Lorelai decided to obey her, and followed her tracks.

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The poker game was going well, a small crowd had even gathered around their table to watch it; some making comments, some cheering, some just too drunk to know the difference… Luke had started badly, losing the initial games, but he was full of luck now; he had won the last two rounds and was currently holding a royal flush.

_Beat that!_ He was already feeling like a winner, but this was the last round he would play; he thought it was best to get out of the game without any debt…

They were doing the bluff thing, some small talk, mostly so the game would last longer; besides, the weak bluffers always became transparent at some point during the small talk.

"Lucky night, huh, Luke?" Frank said from across the table; he had entered the game later on and seemed to be enjoying Luke's obvious shyness.

"Very." Luke didn't look away from his cards; he hadn't liked this guy from the start.

"First, you came with the prettiest girl from our class…" Frank continued with his attempt to tease him.

"Who did you come with, pal?" Charles, another player, asked.

"He came with Lorelai Gilmore…" another man answered from behind; Luke didn't like the way he said that… "Remember her?"

"Christopher Hayden's girl?" Charles seemed to recognize the name.

"Yes," Frank answered. "The one and only."

"How a punk like Chris got a girl like her was always a mystery to me!" came the same voice from behind Luke.

"Yeah, I tried to ask her out all through middle school… She never said yes," a different guy answered.

"I couldn't even _ask_ her out!" Frank said, followed by a long laugh, and was soon joined by every other guy around.

"Look at the top-notch lawyer now!" Danny said, already laughing.

After a while, the laughter died down, and everybody was ready to finish the round, especially Luke. He had a royal flush for God's sake!

"So, Luke, how long have you known Lorelai?" Danny asked, oblivious to the continuation of the poker game.

"About eight years…" Luke tried his best to look very interested in his cards, why did they have to keep talking about Lorelai? They were all just a bunch of gossips…

"That's a lot!" Danny concluded; everybody nodded their heads affirmatively, some muttered.

"Not really…" Luke answered, again trying to sound uninterested. But the truth was that he was a little intrigued with the big curiosity about Lorelai…

"So you have been married for…?" Danny continued his quiz, everybody else listening closely.

"What?" Luke asked, a little unsure of what he had just heard. _Married? Did he say married?_

"Married…for how long?" asked the same mystery man behind him.

When he felt less shocked and paralyzed, he would turn around to see who the hell this man was!

"But…" Luke tried to answer, but was interrupted.

"Didn't she get pregnant in high school?" someone new to the discussion asked.

"Yeah, a daughter, Rory." Luke smiled even without knowing he'd done so.

"So you helped raise her?" Charles, a tabloid journalist, asked, really interested in the drama, his cards completely forgotten…

"Well… I helped with anything I could." Luke was starting to give up on the game…

"That's very honorable of you, man!" Danny patted him on the back. "I don't know if I would have done the same…"

"I…" Luke unsuccessfully attempted to explain that he wasn't Lorelai's husband, but they didn't allow him any opportunity to talk.

"Yeah, to raise someone else's kid… I don't think I would have done it either…" mystery man said again.

Luke could only conclude that the reason for all this talking was the obvious effect of a whole lot of booze… Men usually don't talk this much, or was it just him?

"I wouldn't even marry a woman who had a child!" new guy gave his opinion.

Yeah, right, Luke had forgotten he was married to Lorelai now… How did they get that idea? He hadn't said anything that could lead them to believe that he and Lorelai were more than friends, unless… Lorelai had. No, she wouldn't do that, she said she only needed a date so she wouldn't look bad, she didn't mention anything about a husband! He felt himself grow mad and hardly heard the comments the men were throwing at him about his _supposed_ life, he just couldn't believe Lorelai would tell everyone that they were a married couple! And she didn't even ask for his consent; he knew she was a little…eccentric, but that did not give her any right to do something like that! Married couple… _them_! That would never happen; he would probably die of exhaustion first! Ooh, he was mad now...

"To Luke, a very honorable man!" Danny said, raising his glass in the air; everybody else did the same and yelled, "Cheers!" Luke used the distraction as a way to get away unnoticed, or so he thought…

"You can't leave now, buddy!" mystery man said, resting a heavy hand on his shoulder.

"I have to go… Talk to my _wife_!" Luke answered sarcastically; the sarcasm totally lost on the others' drunken minds.

"Cheers to that too!" someone yelled from somewhere nearby; shot glasses were all raised after that.

Luke realized they wouldn't miss him; they probably wouldn't even know he was gone… Too bad he was about to win the poker game, it's not every day that he got to play poker, never mind win at it… But right now, Luke was on a mission, he had to find Lorelai and clarify this whole thing; she had to answer some questions!

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Lorelai had followed Dotty to a table (actually a few tables were rearranged so they now were together as one) on the opposite side of the men's corner of the room. She hated how rich people socialized only among equals, and _equals_ meant women talking with women at one end of the room and men drinking and smoking at the farthest other end.

They reached their table and Dotty drunkenly announced Lorelai, complimenting her wonderful work at the party. All the other women introduced themselves and Lorelai almost instantly forgot all their names; that's how memorable they were. She kept glancing around, looking for Sandy; she didn't want her to think she had just taken off… But Dotty promptly pushed her into a chair and told her to have fun chatting with the girls. She decided that this was a perfect time to drink her first martini, and if that didn't work, they had a very efficient bartender on shift right now…

Her martini came and the conversation flowed somewhat easily; the fact that Lorelai could talk just about anything really helped her in these kinds of situations. And of course, Lilly had to mention her nineteen-year-old daughter, but really, Lorelai could talk about Rory for hours.

"So she's attending Yale? That's such a marvelous university!" one of the women said. Lorelai thought that was Wendy, but she wasn't all that sure.

"Yes, she's dazzling them with her wit and charms!" Lorelai answered, feeling a tiny bit affected by her few martinis.

"That's great! You seem very happy…" Marie Louise, one of the infamous Nazis, said; she was nicer when she had drunk a little…

"I am." Lorelai had just realized that too; she was happy; she had the most perfect daughter, a good reliable income, her inn, but there was something… missing. She couldn't quite put her finger on it…

"Who wouldn't be with that _husband_?" the woman she thought was Wendy said.

Yep, that's what she needed: a partner, a husband; someone she could count on. Wait, had they just said _my_ husband?

"My husband?" Lorelai asked, laughing lightly.

"Yeah, he's YUMMY!" someone else said. "I wish my Tony had that body!"

"Are you talking about Luke?" No, they couldn't be thinking Luke was her husband…

"Is that his name?" Lilly asked. "He is good-looking!" She gave a drunken chuckle.

"Wait a minute." Lorelai was confused; she had to get things straight. "Who do you think is my husband?" She tried to enunciate every word so the women's alcohol-fogged minds would understand her question.

"Luke, of course!" Dotty answered without a blink.

Maybe she wasn't going to get through to them. Dotty was obviously too drunk to answer anything and the others didn't look like they were much better. Some of the women had their heads down on the table, some were chatting uncontrollably. Lorelai decided to talk to Lilly; she seemed in better shape and had seen Luke; clearly the best option.

"Do you also think Luke is my husband?" Lorelai questioned Lilly, who was sitting a little far away but bent to hear her question.

"Yeah, he looks like a nice man!" Lilly answered without a doubt.

"He is." Lorelai couldn't wait to tell Luke; that would give them a reason to laugh! Married…THEM! That was funny; she would probably kill him if that were true!

Lorelai guffawed at that, and that's when Sandy arrived.

"What's so funny?" she asked, smiling.

"Oh…Nothing…" Lorelai recovered quickly. "So was it hard to find me? Dotty dragged me away," Lorelai whispered closely to Sandy.

"No, you guys are laughing pretty loud!" Sandy took a step back from Lorelai; her breath smelled like alcohol.

"The magic of alcohol, my friend!" Lorelai unknowingly shouted; the others cheered that.

"I came by to say good night!" Sandy said, her eyes showing her fatigue.

"So soon?" Lorelai said in a softened voice.

"Gotta get my sleep…" She yawed and patted her big belly.

"Okay, I'll help you up the stairs!" Lorelai stood and took one of Sandy's arms. "This way I can get away from them…" she whispered conspiratorially.

"Ok, you can tag along!" Sandy said after a giggle escaped her mouth.

They went out the improvised ballroom and up the stairs. Surprisingly, Lorelai wasn't so drunk that she couldn't help her friend up the stairs, but she really had to concentrate to do so. She left her friend at her door, wished her good night, promised to tell Danny she had already gone to bed and that they would talk some more tomorrow. Now, she just had to find Luke to tell him about the _married_ thing, he would find it hilarious! Lorelai marched down the stairs looking for her _husband_!

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Luke spotted Lorelai entering the ballroom; he had been looking for her for a while now… She didn't see him right away; she seemed to be scanning the room for something and when she saw him, the broadest of smiles appeared on her face. It almost made it impossible for Luke to continue to be mad at her…

"Luke, there you are!" She approached him all smiles. "I have the funniest thing to tell you!"

"Yeah?" he answered out of pure reflex, because in reality, that's not what he had planned to say.

"You will never believe this!" She continued smiling; she hadn't noticed the particularly bad mood he was in.

"What? What is so funny?" Luke said in a not so nice manner; he had no patience for Lorelai's bits right now…

"What's up with you?" she said seriously, after feeling the sudden change in the air.

"Nothing's wrong with me!" he answered loudly; good thing he wasn't the only one being loud in the ballroom, because otherwise all eyes would have definitely turned on him…

"I never said there was something wrong with you…" she said cautiously, testing the waters.

He didn't answer; instead, he gave out a snort of disbelief. He was pissed but Lorelai had no idea why. After a couple of seconds of uncomfortable silence and standing, Lorelai decided she should try to speak to him again.

"Now that we've officially established that there's absolutely nothing wrong with you," she smiled warmly. "Would you be so kind to tell me what happened that put you into this lovely mood?" She tried to think before speaking, but was no good at that…

"Everything's a joke to you, huh? Everything becomes funny and you have to make fun of everyone!" He got a little carried away again.

"I was trying to light the mood!" She was soon in the same mood as he was; she took a deep calming breath. "Why don't we sit over there?" She pointed to the deserted part of the room; she didn't want people eavesdropping on their argument. They both moved to said place and sat down quietly.

Luke was trying to calm himself down; he had no idea why he had overreacted like that. He knew that Lorelai didn't deserve to be treated so rudely and she still had to find out the reason to why he had done so. He also knew that he had to somehow be able to tell her why he was so mad, but words had never been a friend of his and, at this moment, they were all out having a literate party in some intellectually graced genius's mind or something… He discreetly glanced her way; he had ruined her cheery mood, and he felt awful.

"They think we're married…" Luke tried to explain; maybe she could understand everything he wanted to say via one statement.

"I know…" Lorelai didn't even look up from her lap; she was utterly confused by his remark.

"You do, huh?" He sounded harsh again; so she did know about the marriage thing… He must have been right; she told people they were married _without his permission_. Why would she do that?

"What now?" She had sensed the return of mad Luke in the zone…

"You knew…and you didn't ask…you just…and I was…not expecting…you didn't ask!"

"What the hell are you talking about? Am I supposed to guess? Speak in complete sentences!" Lorelai was beginning to lose patience; she was tired of having to interpret every single thing every guy had ever said to her…

"You told them, that we," he pointed at the two of them, "are married without even asking me, just so you wouldn't look like a loser at this stupid reunion!"

Luke had expected a big outburst of rage from Lorelai, but instead she remained quiet, and that scared him more than anything she could ever say to him. He noticed that her breathing was now rapid and that her eyes seemed to narrow a little; she was a bomb ready to explode and unless he could learn how to dismantle an atomic bomb in three seconds, the chances were pretty high for him being yelled at. He just waited…

"What?" came the first exclamation of various ones to come. "You think that I would do that? Do you think I'm so affected by other's opinions that I have to lie to my best friend so I don't look like a _lose_r in the eyes of people I never really liked?" She resumed looking sadly at her lap. "I thought you understood me…" she said in a small voice.

Luke was shocked; see, he also thought he knew at least a little about his friend… And he had just made a complete fool of himself showing her that he didn't. He was very confused; he thought it had been completely clear (at the poker game) that Lorelai had been the one who told people they were a committed couple; but then based on her reaction, his conclusion had been very wrong…

"I'm sorry…" he said in a hopeful tone, searching for her eyes even though she wasn't facilitating it. "I was only upset that you hadn't asked for my permission… I would have gladly played along with any of your crazy ideas…even though, now I know that this wasn't one of your crazy ideas…" He hoped she would understand his point and forgive his little asshole act, but she only looked up at him seriously.

"Why don't we continue this talk tomorrow?" She stood from her seat. "I'm sure you're tired… And I'm tired too, so… We'll talk later…"

He had had no idea that he was in such big trouble; she was obviously very upset with him and he could think of nothing better to do than respect her wishes and talk the next day…

"Ok. Goodnight…" He turned towards the staircase; he knew she needed time to think and he was just hoping he hadn't totally ruined almost a decade of friendship…

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	7. Wonder Woman 30 to the resc

**Hey! It's update time again!**

**Sorry for this late update… I just got back from work, now I'm working Sunday to Sunday, I think my employers have me mistaken for a slave… I should probably clear that up… **

**Really, the things we do for the greens…**

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Chapter 7 - Wonder Woman 3.0 to the rescue!

A FEW MINUTES LATER—DRAGONFLY'S BAR

"And Johnny…if you could just make sure to keep a constant flow of these babies," Lorelai pointed at her…(who was counting, right?) shot of tequila. "You'll make me a very happy lady!" Johnny just smiled and nodded affirmatively; he had been listening to her various rants for the last couple of minutes; he should probably get a raise…

"See, I knew there was a chance I would find you here…" came a very familiar voice from behind her.

"Chris!" She turned around on her stool, slowly, because the world was already shaken without the mix of sudden movements to deadly tequila… "You're here!" She cheered then remembered he wasn't coming and hadn't RSVPed. "You're here?" She twisted her nose questionably, 'Bewitched' style.

"I'm here, flesh and bones." He smiled charmingly. "My business trip was canceled and I decided to come see what you've done with the place. Great place, by the way."

"Thanks, I love it here too!" She spoke drunkenly, then covered her mouth, regretting the way she had just sounded… "I mean," she tried to focus; "it is a great place." She breathed out, now satisfied with her response.

"So, is that your private stash of the good stuff? Or can a new, simple guest have some too?" Chris asked after observing Lorelai's deadly grip on her tequila shot glass; he sat next to her.

"I guess you can have a little bit…" She demonstrated to him how much he could have using her fingers, the thumb opposite to the pointer; she left very little space between the two.

"Okay. I'll have one!" He smiled at her.

"Johnny, the man here, wants the good stuff!" Lorelai announced Chris' request to the bartender. "So… What am I gonna do with you?" She turned serious, as serious as anyone can be after consuming a respectable number of tequila shots.

"What do you mean?" he asked after his first shot; utterly confused by her question.

"Well… You didn't RSVP… I wasn't expecting you to come, and when you just show up at any inn or a hotel you can't just expect that they'll have everything ready for you!" She breathed it all out.

"So what you're trying to say is…" Call him slow, but he had still not understood what she was trying to say.

"There's absolutely," she staggered a bit on the last word. "No room for you here!" She looked apologetically at him. "You can't stay here… Therefore I ask myself: what am I gonna do with you?"

"Oh. Sorry I didn't call earlier…" he said slowly, then stood up from his seat, the tequila having some effect on him now. "I can stay at a different hotel…" he said in more of a question-like way than a statement.

"No!" Lorelai yelled instead of using a regular tone; that made Chris sit down again. "I mean," her head was starting to get very blurred, "I want you to stay here… And you can't…" Where had her logic gone? "But… You can stay at my house." She smiled proudly, her logic had returned. "I'll get the keys!" She tried to stand up, but couldn't; there was something stopping her… She felt heavy, she closed her eyes; maybe the alcohol hadn't been such a good idea. She opened her eyes to see that the heaviness came from Chris; he had been the one holding her down, his hands on her arm.

"I can't stay at your house, I came with Mindy, she's sleeping in the car," he explained.

"That would be weird…" She had given up on standing up; there was no reason to do so now.

"Indeed!" He smiled apologetically at her. "But, we'll think of something…"

"Right." She tried to reorganize her brain enough so that she could actually put it into use.

"Right…" Chris was also trying his best to think of something; there was just a big blank where his idea should have been.

They both sat in a comfortable silence, the two trying to think through a drunken stupor; of course, Lorelai was having a little more trouble with that…

"Ok, I have a room for you!" How hadn't she thought of this idea before? "C'mon, let's get your keys!" She stood, followed by Chris; they went to the foyer and to the reception desk. Lorelai went behind the desk and fumbled through a drawer; she found what she was looking for and handed it to Chris.

"An envelope's gonna solve my homeless condition?" He was, to say the least, very lost; why had she given him an envelope? What good could a letter do for him? But that's when he realized that the envelope didn't hold a letter; it had a key inside. Now things were starting to make some sense!

"It's a key!" She smiled broadly; she felt like she had just solved an important crime.

"I can see that…" He laughed at her enthusiasm. "Which door does this key belong to?"

"To my room upstairs," she said in a _duh_-way, "you can have it!"

"But where are you going to sleep?"

"I can go home," she stated simply, as if it had been obvious.

"You're not going home like that! I won't let you!" He pointed at her at the exact same time that she leaned on the desk for support--she was feeling a tiny little bit dizzy.

"Then I'm the one homeless now…" She looked down, faking sadness.

"So you keep your room and I will find a hotel nearby, it's no problem."

"Do not fear my friend, I, Wonder Woman version 3.0, have already found a solution! Go ahead; get settled in your room, I'm not homeless anymore!"

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A FEW MINUTES LATER—IN ROOM LUCKY # 7 ON THE SECOND FLOOR OF THE DRAGONFLY INN.

Luke was pulled out of his light sleep by a soft knock on the door. He hadn't actually slept yet; he kept tossing and turning on the bed, the argument with Lorelai was on repeat in his brain and after re-watching it a hundred times, he still didn't know where they stood and what the true degree of her anger towards him was. He heard the knock again, a little louder this time. He got out of the comfy bed and walked the short distance to the door. He opened the door to find a drunk-looking Lorelai leaning on the door; she kind of tripped her way into the bedroom.

"Hi Luke!" she said cheerfully, and then sat on the bed, right where he had been sleeping. She couldn't help noticing Luke's boxers and t-shirt combo. Yummy... He was a friend, but she wasn't blind; she could see that he was good-looking.

"Hi?" Had she forgotten about their fight? He knew she had been drinking, and he didn't know how to deal with her. He closed the door and turned the bedside lamp on. "Do you want your bag?" He had brought her _Penelope Pitstop_ bag up to his room earlier, but she never came to get it, so now that she was going to bed, she obviously needed it, that's probably why she was here… He reached for the pink bag on the floor and handed to her.

"My pretty bag…" she said, holding it and following the patterns on it with her fingers. "But that's not the reason I'm here, although it is very important that I have my bag."

Was she going to bring their argument back up? Luke knew that it was officially _the next day_ already; he had only thought that when she said they would talk _later_, she had meant that they would talk 'after a good night of rest and when the sun was out'.

"I need to sleep here!" She pointed at the bed she was already sitting on, by way of explanation.

"What?" Of every scenario he had imagined, that one was definitely not included. Was she out of her mind? "Don't you have your own room?"

"Yes, I do. No, I don't; I mean… I did, but now I don't, you know?" She had thought that that had been made very clear, but she could tell from Luke's face that he would disagree with her on that. She would have to elaborate a little more. "Chris's here and he didn't confirm he was coming, so I had no room for him and now he has mine. See, he couldn't just stay at my house cuz he brought Mandy, the new love of his life; and I can't stay at my house cuz he didn't allow me to leave cuz I'm a little too drunk to drive, so… now… uh…"

"You're here. I got it, it's ok, and it's your Inn anyway…" Luke had only been glad that she wasn't mad at him anymore, she was here, after all. "And I have to agree with Chris on not letting you drive home like that." He smiled at her drunkenness.

"He might be right about that…" She smiled back; she was starting to feel tired. Lorelai reclined into the bed and closed her eyes; she wasn't going to fall asleep, she was just resting her eyes…

"Lorelai…" Luke said gently into her ear. She couldn't just fall asleep without even changing into her pajamas… "Lorelai…" He nudged her shoulder; she reopened her eyes at that.

"Mmmm?" She closed her eyes again.

"Lorelai, you can't fall asleep in your clothes…" He tried to reason with her again. She only blinked back, not being able to keep her eyes open. Luke sighed deeply; he had to help her before she fell asleep, because after that, it would become impossible to wake her. "How about… I'll help you up, take you to the bathroom and then you change into your PJs?"

"Ok." She offered him her arm, so he could help her up--and so he did. Luke put his arm around her waist and pushed her up on her feet. "Here, now you're up." Lorelai immediately felt dizzy and quickly (as quickly as her drunken body allowed) grabbed hold of Luke's neck, holding onto it for dear life.

"I'm feeling a little dizzy…" Lorelai laughed, embarrassed, into Luke's chest, still keeping her grip on him.

"I see that… but do you have to squeeze me like that? I need to breathe…" Truth was, Luke wasn't feeling so comfortable with Lorelai (wearing _that_ dress) holding him this close… She was just his friend, friend, friend… He just had to believe that…

"Actually… I do… I'm afraid I'll fall on the hard, wood floor if I don't…" She tightened her grip, only making Luke more nervous. Since Lorelai was holding into him; he decided to reach for her bag with the hand that wasn't around her waist, but when he tried to bend down to get it; Lorelai's extra weight made them both fall to the ground. Lorelai never let go of him so she ended up landing on top of him.

"Ouch!" he said as his back crashed against the floor.

"I told you it would hurt to fall on this floor…" she said matter-of-factly, now really close to his face. Luke was handsome this close up; she looked into those eyes and at the strong jaw… She reached out and gently traced his jaw. Then she suddenly realized what she had done. "Just checking if you're ok..." she tried to explain to a perplexed Luke; _what a lousy cover up…_

"I am, I'm ok." He tried not to read into what she had just done: had she just _caressed_ him? No, of course not… Friends, they were friends. How many more times would he have to repeat this to himself? But, even though they were friends, which he knew and wouldn't repeat to himself any longer, he had no strength to fight the hypnotic powers her eyes exerted on him. He was hopelessly staring into her beautiful blue eyes. He was allowed to think that his best friend was…beautiful, right?

"Good…" she interrupted his thoughts. "But are we going to remain on the floor or are we getting up anytime soon?" She had sobered up a bit; she was even able to finish her sentences now…

Luke grasped Lorelai and using all his mighty male strength got them both up. After he checked that no one was hurt in the process, he handed the bright pink bag to Lorelai and guided her to the bathroom. She went in with bag in hand and closed the door. Her little bathroom break would give him enough time to calm down; was he going to sleep in the same bed with Lorelai Gilmore? Was that what she meant to do? He needed to put some pants on; he wasn't going to last long if he was this close to his…friend again. How was he going to sleep now?

She opened the door, her hands caressing her temples; she could feel the beginning of a huge headache. She was wearing her black cotton top with her pink drawstring, elastic waist short with "Very Sexy" back graphic detail. Luke glanced her way but then quickly continued what he had been doing. She couldn't quite tell what it was; neither did he…he just really had to look in the opposite direction from her…

"Let's sleep, I'm sooo tired!" She ran to the bed and was quickly under the covers, she snuggled into the pillows, they smelled like Luke...

"I was sleeping there..." He pointed to the side of the bed that she had decided to take over.

"Not anymore Lucas..." she answered sleepily, a mischievous smile on her face.

Luke walked to the other side of the bed; he knew that was an argument he was not going to win. He moved the covers and lay down as carefully as humanly possible; he was not going to touch her. How he was going to sleep without moving was a mystery to him, but it would have to be done... He stayed still, staring at the ceiling until sleep came and dragged him away to dreamland.

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SATURDAY—DAY TWO OF THE REUNION

Luke opened his eyes; bright sunshine encountered his pupils. He narrowed his eyes to see where the impertinent light was coming from: the window. There was no need to be a genius to figure that out… He had to close the drapes, or maybe just closing his eyes would do the trick. He could use a few more minutes of rest; last night had certainly been eventful... First the poker game (which he still couldn't believe they hadn't finished), then the argument with Lorelai, then Chris's arrival (he had never liked him...) then Lorelai's appearance at his door and then... Was Lorelai still in bed--gulp--with him? Luke had blocked out that last piece of information; he had to, in order to be able to sleep last night. He slowly opened one eye, peeking through it, but unfortunately the direct bright light coming from the window was making it impossible to see anything. He opened the other one. What he saw would have made him speechless if he had to talk right now, but luckily, Lorelai was sleeping so he wouldn't need to explain why his left arm was protectively holding her sleeping form. He was totally ok with never ever mentioning a word about it to her either; he could just pretend it hadn't happened.

They were in the middle of the bed, which meant that both had moved during the night. They were holding each other so close that the king-sized bed seemed like King Louis the Fourteenth's bed. Luke figured he should probably disentangle his arm from her waist and also remove her arms from his chest; yeah, he knew he should do that. Only he didn't; the feeling was too good and he didn't want the moment to end. If she happened to wake before he did it, he could just pretend to be sleeping, right? He enjoyed a few more seconds of closeness with his _friend_ and then figured he was just being silly. He removed her delicate arms from his chest, immediately missing them, and then carefully drew his own arm out from the warmness of her body, pushing her gently further away from him. She moved a little, probably trying to find a new comfy position and somehow, ended up facing him. Of course, they had a respectable distance between them but Luke couldn't help but stare and smile. She had obviously rubbed her eyes during the night because her mascara was all smudged on her face... He observed her for a while longer and then decided to take a shower. After that, he would, maybe, try to wake her. He knew she would have a hell of a headache today, after all the alcohol she had obviously had the night before... It would probably be wise to come back bearing coffee and aspirin when he decided to wake her.

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TWO HOURS LATER

Luke had already taken his time on a long shower, gotten dressed and gone downstairs to have breakfast. He found very few people doing the same, only the ones that had remained sober or partly sober the night before. He imagined that the others were probably still sleeping or just suffering from some badass hangovers. After he finished his granola cereal with milk and orange juice, he grabbed a few things for Lorelai: aspirin, a huge cup of coffee and some pancakes (hangover food...). He arranged all in his arms and went upstairs to wake Lorelai.

When he entered their room, he found everything in the exact same place. However, Lorelai, sleeping, hadn't stayed in the exact same place; she had now taken over the entire bed. She was sleeping so peacefully that Luke felt bad about waking her, but the sooner she took the aspirin, the smaller her future headache would be. He dropped her coffee, aspirin and pancakes on the bedside table without making much noise; he knew it was better for his own safety that she be gently awakened, not startled to death by the loud noise of something crashing... He sat on the bed next to her and gently stroked her shoulder.

"Lorelai?" Luke said in a kind tone, but that didn't seem to affect her. "Lorelai?" he repeated.

Lorelai had been dreaming of something so wonderful, that once she opened her eyes, she was sure it would slip her mind: she was never able to remember her dreams. She had heard someone trying to pull her away from her dream, but just didn't feel like waking. Now that she was starting to regain consciousness, she could feel the aching throbbing in her head…

"Lorelai?" Luke tried one more time; he heard her mumble in response. "What?" He wasn't fluent in mumble-language.

"Five more minutes…" Lorelai was able to speak coherently, a classic sentence nevertheless…

"I just want to give you this aspirin…" That did nothing to catch her attention. "I brought you some coffee…" He decided to bring out the big guns; she seemed to respond to that.

She sniffed the air and then smirked; he was telling the truth. She opened one eye and peeked at him: he was smiling, amused at her immediate reaction to anything related to coffee.

"Good morning," he greeted her.

She rubbed her eyes and then opened them; she was a little awake now.

"Morning…" she said in a raspy small voice; her throat hurt a little. She rested one hand on her throat, the other on her forehead; she was hurting all over… Agh…

"See, that's why you need the aspirin…" He kept talking in a low, gentle voice, so it didn't worsen her headache.

"Right…" She managed to sit on the bed. "I think I took a trip to Margaritaville… only I didn't drink margaritas…" She still had her hand on her forehead, pressing her palm against it to see if it relieved the pain. "So, I guess I went to Tequilaville…" She tried to smile, but moving any muscles seemed too much work right now…

"Drink this." He handed her a glass of water that he'd brought from the bathroom, and the pill.

"Thanks." She used all her will and smiled at him, and then she drank the whole thing.

"It's important that you drink a lot of liquid, you are a little dehydrated now."

"Then hand me the coffee!" Besides the feeling of someone crushing her skull and consequently not thinking straight, she was still able to tell that coffee was a liquid, and Luke said she needed a lot of liquid so, therefore, he was recognizing her need for coffee.

"Ok," he gave her the mug. "But the only reason I won't fight you on that is cuz I know you're suffering a lot already!" Luke chuckled softly.

"So my pain is funny to you?" She feigned offense, after she drained the mug empty.

"Not really," he answered in a serious tone, and then locked eyes with her.

She smiled at him. "Good."

"I have something else for you," He showed her the plate of pancakes, "hangover food."

"Oooh so good! I'm hungry!" She yanked the plate from his hands and immediately started to eat.

"Such a lady! Your mom would be proud…" He teased her manners.

"Oh, shut up!" She continued eating. "I need to ask you something…" She turned serious.

"Okay…" Luke never knew what to expect when she became serious.

"Yesterday…" Lorelai started; she really wanted to apologize for the way she had entered his room yesterday and taken it over, like it was hers…Which it was, since she owned the inn, and the room was in the inn, but that was not the subject at hand… "I'm sorry…" she said quietly.

"You don't have to apologize to me, let's just call it even?" He looked deeply into her blue eyes. "I wasn't much of a gentleman yesterday either…" He smiled amicably.

"K', we're even!" She smiled back. "Thanks for accepting me as a new roomie…"

"I don't think I had a choice in that matter…" He grinned, reminiscing about last night's events.

"Ha, ha, ha! You're so funny, my friend!" she answered sarcastically; he kept grinning just to tease her more. "I did tell you why I came here…last night…right?" Panic was starting to grow inside Lorelai; she must have explained why she suddenly appeared at her friend's door in the middle of the night, right? Of course she did, she usually didn't do stupid things when drunk… it wasn't her style… So she had no doubt in her mind that she had not done anything to regret last night, ok, maybe just a little…

"Chris's back." Luke's tone hardened and he stiffened, then sat straighter.

"I did tell you then…" Disappointment clear in her voice, Chris had that power over her; he could always ruin something good, even unintentionally. "That's so Chris-like to just show up and expect everything just ready and waiting for him… He didn't even call to warn me… I hate when he does that… He was my friend, but I guess that died a long time ago… I can never count on him, you know?" She gave Luke a meaningful glance; he reached for her hand.

"Don't worry about him." He tried to calm her. "You know he's not worth it…"

"He came with a _girlfriend_." Her eyes were full of tears now.

So was that what this was all about? Chris had come with a girl and made Lorelai this upset. Luke didn't understand her sometimes; he thought she was over him…

"You still like him?" He held his breath; he couldn't tell why the answer to that seemed so important to him…

"NO!" She was surprised that he had asked such a direct question. "I guess… I'm just…jealous…"

That did nothing for Luke but confuse him. First, she says she doesn't like Chris, seems even scandalized by his question, then she tells him she's jealous. Jealous didn't mean that she didn't like Chris anymore, in fact, it sounded like quite the opposite…

"Jealous?" Luke figured that of all the questions running through his mind, this was the least-compromising question he could ask her. He didn't want her to think that he liked her…

"Yeah, he has someone…and I don't." She looked at her hands; she felt a little weird having this conversation with Luke… But he was her friend and she would have talked this over with Sookie, who was also her friend so…she had no reason to feel weird…

"Oh" Realization dawned in Luke; he felt relief for some reason… He was just glad she wasn't hung up on that loser anymore; that was it. "You know… Everybody already thinks we are married…" He hinted his idea to her.

"You are not gonna bring that up again…" She looked at him, already upset.

"No, that's not it… I'm saying that they already think that you and I…are a couple," Luke said quickly.

"What are you hinting at, Mr. Danes?" She smiled mischievously at him; she had already understood what he wanted to say but wanted to hear it from him.

He could tell from her smile that she had understood what he was struggling to say and that she wouldn't let him get off so easily…

"I mean… Since everybody thinks we're together…"-Gulp- "We could just…not tell them anything…and they'll say something to Chris, so he'll think we are… ya know…" There, he'd said it. He presented her with an idea, a solution for her _jealousy_, and this time he was the one that came up with the crazy idea, so at least he wouldn't be mad at her if people commented about it…

"Are you suggesting we _lie_?" She feigned offense then smiled innocently at him, batting her eyelashes as a final touch.

"No, not lie…" he guessed; he had just suggested that they lie… She was right…

"Of course, we'll simply forget the truth…" she said, amused by his shyness.

"That's what we could do…if you wanted to…" He had finally caught her sarcasm although he didn't catch an answer in all the gibberish she'd just said…

"Well…you're the one suggesting it, so you can't be mad at me later on…" She became completely serious again.

He nodded affirmatively, waiting for her final answer.

Lorelai's face contorted with concentration; she couldn't reach a conclusion, could she lie to everybody? Chris? Sandy? Although that would show Chris, she hated how he always thought she was single and waiting for him. At least that way he wouldn't think that, and she wouldn't be 'poor, single Lorelai' anymore, in his eyes, theoretically. He didn't have to know the truth about her life and she just wanted him to see that she was one hundred percent over him, for good, and that was no lie.

"Ok." She made a quick downward motion of the head.

"Ok." Luke could not understand why he suddenly felt…happy. Was it just because now he was sure they had made up? Or was it because he knew that Chris was out of the picture? He sure didn't like the guy; after all the hurt he had brought to Rory (throughout her childhood and even now…) and Lorelai (he knew he had been responsible for some of her heartache.). He was obviously happy because of that… His thoughts were interrupted by Lorelai's voice.

"So we're now officially," she paused dramatically, "Partners in crime!" She wanted to tease him; she knew how he felt about any commitments, even fake ones…

"Done." He gave a heartfelt smile, offered his hand and they shook hands to seal the deal.

"Since we're _done_ here…" she teased him. "I'm gonna take a shower and after that we can start our eeevil plan, muah-muah-muahhhhh!" She gave her best imitation of Cruella's wicked laugh.

Luke just rolled his eyes, as expected…"You don't look like you have a headache…"

"Oh, it's the incredible healing power of pancakes, aspirin and a jumbo-coffee combo!" She beamed at him. Luke used all his willpower to not smile back but in the end, as always, he gave in.

Lorelai grabbed her ridiculously pink bag and entered the bathroom, while Luke turned on the TV to wait for her.

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For all the lovely readers out there:

THANK YOU!

P.S.:I have a special request though, I wanna ask for your prayers or positive thoughts on Mrs.Dionysius' mom; she's very ill. I'm a believer on the powers of our positive energies and I hope it can do her some good.


	8. Did you know that blue girls

**Hi!**

**It's the time you've all been waiting for… It's update time!**

**I want to thank everyone that was kind enough to send their positive thoughts to Mrs. D's mom, we appreciated! **

**And, of course, I have to thank you all for the flattering reviews! You guys are responsible for some life saving e-mail checking moments, really! There's nothing better than, after a shitty day at work then a late night at school coming home and seeing your lovely feedback, thanks!**

**Can't forget bout my betas… The ones, the best, the smartest-s:**

**Mrs.DionysiousOGall and OzDust!**

**Now enjoy this new chapter, fresh from the frog! (I hate the WB's frog…what does the frog have to do with the network? I don't get it…) **

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Chapter 8 – Did you know that blue girls are polygamous?

Lorelai had originally planned a nice morning of horseback riding; she thought that Luke would like that since it had some adventure value and he liked this sort of stuff, right?

But her plans were cut short by her headache; the thought of riding up and down on a horse didn't seem very appealing in combination with her throbbing temples. So after a conversation, during which Lorelai named everything they could do and Luke just rejected all her ideas, they seemed to find common ground: a walk around the Dragonfly grounds. So far, there hadn't been much talking; there sure was a lot of walking though and Lorelai was starting to regret her choice of shoes…

"Luke!" Lorelai yelled so Luke, who was a little ahead, could hear. "Slow down!"

Luke not only slowed down but also came back a few steps so Lorelai could catch up.

She tried to speed towards him but the newly formed blisters made that impossible, so she ended up falling on the grass instead.

"Damn!" she exclaimed while sitting on the soft grass; Luke sat next to her.

"Are you all right?" He tried to mask the subtle smile that appeared on his face by pretending to fix his cap.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She sounded cranky. "I just didn't know we were gonna walk soo much, I'm wearing the wrong shoes for this!" She pointed at her high-heeled sandals that, by the way, matched her dress perfectly.

"I told you that you should've worn something different…" He rolled his eyes at her girly ways; he would never understand the logic behind a woman's choice for pain and not comfort.

"I know…" she whined. "But look at my dress," He did, he liked it. "Now look at my shoes," He did, he liked them. "Perfect match, see?" He saw that, and he liked it. "It's the perfect outfit with this weather too… I couldn't not wear it just cuz you said so." She saw that there was a big tree nearby; she moved to sit under it to protect herself from the bright eleven o'clock sunshine. Luke did the same.

"So, you're saying that if we were riding a horse somewhere right now, you'd have been wearing the same clothes?" He inclined his body into the tree's trunk.

"Of course not! Are you crazy?" Her eyes widened. "This is not an outfit in which to ride horses,.." she explained simply. Luke didn't think it was so simple.

Lorelai took off her sandals, relief flooding her body, traveling from her little toe to the last strand of hair. She wiggled her toes, and then touched them on the soft, but itchy, grass. She then decided to rest her feet in Luke's lap; he looked up, surprised.

"What are you doing?" he said, flabbergasted, was she trying to get him hot?

"I'm trying to subtly tell you that I want, no, I need a foot massage!" She jiggled her toes again, then laughed at his disgusted face.

"No," he answered dryly; she continued to move her toes.

"Please?" She entreated him to change his mind by only looking at him; he tried to resist.

"No." He sounded harder this time; she didn't have to know that she had convinced him on the first try, she didn't have to know the power she had over him, really.

"Pretty please with cherries on top?" She thrust out her lower lip, forming a Class A pout; he was done pretending that he had some choice in the matter.

Luke took one of her feet into his hands. She gasped; she hadn't expected him to accept her ordering him to massage her feet. He moved his big hands slowly, sensually even, up her calves then down through all her toes; call her crazy, but there was definitely pleasure involved…

"Mmmm…" she moaned then closed her eyes, all while Luke did his magic with his divine hands; that made her think about some other skillful things he might perform with those hands… "My, my Luke, I just think you might have chosen the wrong career…" She still had her eyes closed, which was a good thing since Luke was blushing at the moment… (Although he would never admit it.)

But before Luke could manage any response, which he was finding quite impossible due to the 'moment' he was sharing with his friend, Lorelai's cell phone startled them both by ringing to Green Day's _'Basket Case'_.

"Don't you dare stop what you're doing!" she warned him before answering the call. "Hello?"

"Mom!" came Rory's exasperated voice from the other end of the line.

"Rory? Hon, did something happen? Are you ok?" Lorelai went from having a relaxing foot massage to being a totally freaked-out mom in 1.3 seconds.

Luke stopped what he was doing; Lorelai had seized his attention by the concern in her voice. He waited to see how their dialogue played out; he hoped nothing had happened to Rory…

"I'm the one that's ok, I'm wondering how you are doing?" Rory sounded like she was trying to hint at something.

"I'm fine…" Lorelai furrowed her eyebrows, confused. "What are you talking about?" There was no approach like a direct approach if you wanted to just know the answer to something, fast.

Luke, besides his confusion, was starting to feel a little uncomfortable and silly just holding Lorelai's feet, so he dropped them on the grass. That made him receive a disapprovingly look from Lorelai and that made him restart his foot massage. If the boss says so…

"Last night you left the weirdest message on my answering machine…but I only heard it this morning and I was a little…" She tried to think of the right word. "Curious, that's all." She laughed a little. "But now I want you to explain it all to me, no need to share the details though…"

"Again, what are you talking about, oh daughter of mine? I know we have what some people may call a freaky connection but I'm afraid I'm gonna need you to elaborate a little more there, hon…" She almost let out another moan but was able to contain herself; there was something very wrong about moaning while your daughter's having some sort of hissy fit on the other side of the line…

"I'm talking about your message on my machine, last night." Rory waited for some sign of recognition from Lorelai but it never came. "You…huh, don't remember?"

"Sorry, I have absolutely no idea of what you're talking about… Maybe if you told me what this message was about, I could help…" Was it a sin to not be able to focus on your daughter because of a really good foot massage? If it was, oh well, she was a sinner…

"If I knew what it was about I wouldn't be calling you to ask you about it in the first place, now would I?"

"I guess not…" She felt slightly stupid now. She gave Luke two thumbs up for his top-notch job and a reassuring smile so he wouldn't worry about Rory anymore. "Ok, tell me exactly what I said in the message; maybe that will help my memory to work…"

"K'... Your message was a little something like...in fact it was only a sentence…a question really, no conclusion, no clarification, nothing. That's what made me worry a little…"

"Rory! Oy, with the circling already! The suspense's killing me; I'm hooked, don't you worry."

"Sorry…" She laughed shyly. "Like I was saying, the message was just a question… 'Rory, do you think I should sleep with Luke?'" She finished and then waited for Lorelai's reaction; when it didn't come' she continued. "Now, I think you can understand why I was a little…apprehensive about the whole thing…" This silence wasn't normal between the Gilmore girls, any silence for that matter. Rory just didn't know how to react to it, and she couldn't even see her mom's face to have some idea of what was going on.

Lorelai was shocked, she had to admit that, but the weirdest thing about this conversation was that Luke (apparently the main subject) was right in front of her with one of her feet in his lap, and massaging the other.

"Mom!" Rory could only take so much silence from her mom.

"I'm here."

"So?"

"I don't remember leaving that message for you…"

"That's not what I want to know… Did you and Luke…you know?" Rory sounded all excited. "Did you finally see it?"

"We must be outta sync today, cuz I'm not understanding you…"

"Don't play dumb with me missy! I'm talking about the obvious attraction you and Luke have for each other!" Rory could only tolerate so much obliviousness. "It's written all over your face!"

"How many times do I have to tell you and this whole damn town that there's nothing there, no IT!" She removed her feet from Luke's lap, then discreetly turned to a position where he couldn't hear her. "We. Are. Just. Friends." She lowered her voice.

"Right…so were Harry and Sally, and look how that ended up…"

"That's only a movie, a classic one, but still only a movie. Have I not told you not to mix real life with movies, little girl?"

"Says the woman who cries every time she watches Satine die in 'Moulin Rouge'…"

"Hey, that's different…Christian and Satine were meant to be together…."

"Well, someday you'll be able to see through all your stubbornness and then you'll realize how much time you both wasted by being stupid." Rory breathed out, she loved her mom to death but sometimes she was just too stubborn for her own good.

"I always wondered why Smurfette was the only female smurf…" Lorelai tried to lighten the mood and if lucky, change the subject.

"Bringing up my childhood's greatest dilemma isn't gonna save you from this conversation…" Lorelai wasn't being much help… "Just tell me what your message was about and I promise I'll drop the 'it' subject."

"That sounds fair… Chris showed up yesterday with his girlfriend, but he hadn't confirmed his attendance, so there was no room for him. Long story short, I gave him mine, I was too tipsy to drive home, ended up inviting myself to sleep in Luke's room, the end."

"Oh, that's what you meant by sleeping with Luke… I thought you meant _sleeping_ with Luke. So…uh…"

Lorelai interrupted Rory's future question. "No further questions, that was the deal." Lorelai turned serious for a moment. "And about the Smurfette thing…"

"I know…how could she be the only female one? Was she like the mother of all Smurfs? Was she married to Papa Smurf?"

"Or were the Smurfs a completely liberal matriarchal society that accepted polygamy?" Lorelai hadn't realized she had been moving throughout their entire discussion; she was subconsciously putting some distance between herself and Luke so he wouldn't hear their talk. She was about to head back when she turned around and saw that Luke wasn't alone, oh no, he had been joined by Chris and company…poor Luke.

"Mom, this was a cartoon made for little kids…" Rory spoke in a disapproving tone.

"Listen honey, I'll call you later, k'? Right now I have to save Luke, he's trapped…" she explained.

"K', go on, save him…I'm sure he misses you already, and I don't wanna be the one that keeps you two apart," Rory teased her mom.

"Bye, now…"

"Bye-bye mommy dearest!" Rory answered cheerfully and then hung up.

Lorelai sure was happy that she hadn't mentioned the fact that she and Luke had shared the same bed; what would Rory have said about that? And would she have teased her so much? But she had no time to waste; she had to rescue Luke from the terrible claws of: _small talk_.

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Luke was starting to wonder whether Lorelai had taken off and left him alone to deal with Chris and what's-her-name-again, when he felt two arms snake around his torso and finally rest on his waist.

"Hi!"

Lorelai's voice came from behind him; he couldn't see the amused smile she must have been wearing for scaring the hell out of him, but the bright side was that she wasn't able to see his surprised/confused/pleased face either.

Chris and Mindy only nodded in acknowledgement of Lorelai's presence.

"Did you miss me, hon?" Lorelai squeezed around his waist.

"S-sure… I just didn't wanna interrupt your talk with Rory…" He looked back at her, he was telling the truth.

"Nonsense, we were just having our annual Smurfette discussion…No conclusions were made." Lorelai smiled up at him, they exchanged a long meaningful look.

"Oh, is it that time of the year again?" Chris included himself in the conversation. "So, Lore, this's Mindy," Lorelai showed no signs of recognition. "The one I told you about?"

"Of course, nice to meet you." Lorelai extended her hand to Mindy, without letting go of Luke.

"Nice to meet you too, finally." Mindy shook her hand. "I've heard all kinds of good stuff about you."

"Really?" Lorelai looked questioningly at Chris.

"Oh yeah, these two," Mindy pointed at Luke and Chris, "Were just exchanging funny anecdotes about you."

"Really?" Lorelai looked questioningly at Chris then Luke. "Glad to be responsible for your entertainment." She smiled amicably at Mindy.

"How long have you two been together?" Chris asked dryly.

Oh-oh, they hadn't really had the opportunity to organize the details of their fake relationship… How long could they have been together?

"Three months," Luke answered before Lorelai had a chance to.

"Three months?" Lorelai's eyes were wide when she turned to Luke; he only gave her a reassuring nod. "Wow, three months. Has it been that long? Time sure does fly when you're having fun." She amended her weird previous remark; she hadn't expected Luke to answer before her…

"Congratulations, you seem very happy!" Mindy said as she hugged Chris closer to her; he reluctantly moved.

"Thanks, we are." Lorelai tried to hide her face in Luke's shoulder; she was doing her best not to laugh. Luke took one of her hands from his waist and gently squeezed; maybe she wasn't doing such a good job at hiding her amused face…

"But I remember you…" Chris pointed at Luke. "Weren't you two friends?" Chris asked, looking profoundly interested by the answer.

"Oh, yeah, we were friends for years," Lorelai answered, showing her face from behind Luke.

"That's nice. That's how the best relationships start," Mindy put in her two cents. "How did that happened?" Mindy seemed to be a true romantic.

"Oh, you know…one day _bang_, we snapped and then when we realized we were dating!" Lorelai improvised.

"Snapped?" Chris asked defiantly, looking directly at Luke.

"Yeah, one day it all just simply hit me, all these feelings I had toward Lorelai became very clear, feelings I believe have been there for a while. I decided to take a risk and ask her out, she accepted and the rest's history." Luke answered without needing to elaborate it in his mind first, it all came out naturally; that scared him. Was his subconscious trying to tell him something? He turned slightly to see an astonished Lorelai looking back at him; she was smiling back at him.

"That's a nice story," Mindy said, truly touched.

"That is a very good story!" Lorelai complimented Luke's fast-thinking ability; he only smiled shyly at her.

"Yep." Chris interrupted their googly-eyed exchange. "So, what's the schedule for today?" He turned at Lorelai.

"Well, the only things that require your presence are the meals, they were carefully picked and Sookie has outdone herself." Lorelai moved from Luke's back, where she had been hiding, to his front, where he quickly held her by the waist. "Tonight we have a dance, which you must attend, then the rest's free time! You can go to the front desk and Michele will give you a list of things you can do!" She looked at her watch. "I'm afraid we have to go now... Lunch will be served soon and I wanna check if everything's ok."

"Okay...Thanks." Chris didn't know why he suddenly felt so annoyed.

"It was very nice to meet you two!" Mindy said excitedly.

"Oh yeah, it was nice meeting you too!" Lorelai held Luke's hand. "Bye now!" She pulled him and they went towards the Dragonfly.

They were doing a good job impersonating the perfect couple; it sure was convincing Chris and Mindy, although they had different opinions of the couple.

"They're such a cute couple!" Mindy smiled and hugged Chris's arm.

"Yeah, sure. But did he have to be all over her like that?"

"Chris..." she said warningly. "I think that, maybe, he felt a little threatened by you..." She lowered her voice.

"I don't think he has anything to worry about," he reassured his girlfriend. "Lorelai seemed to lose the ability to stand without leaning all over him..." He snorted; he hated public signs of affection...he thought they were pathetic.

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Lorelai and Luke had walked out of the other couple's sight; they didn't continue toward the inn as they said they would, they moved in the opposite direction instead.

"You don't really have to check on lunch, right?" Luke asked after they finally stopped walking and sat on the grass facing the lake.

"Of course not!" She laughed at the idea. "Sookie would kill me if I decided to check on her lunch!"

"Yeah, you would probably eat the whole thing too." He chuckled softly.

"Hey!" She feigned offence. "You're possibly right..."

They both observed the lake in silence for a minute.

"Today I learned that you could have been a famous masseur or an incredible actor," she said, still facing the lake. "What else have you been hiding, Mr. Danes?" She turned to him.

"I guess you'll never know..." He played along, even raising his eyebrow for effect.

She laughed wholeheartedly. "Ooh, my very own mystery man!"

He only kept staring at the lake, trying to not blush, smile, or worse, both.

"Thanks for doing this for me..." She touched his arm lightly. "I know you hate socializing...and big fancy dances, and you probably hate lying too... But you're doing it all for me, thank you." She made him look at her so he could see the truly grateful smile-look combo she was giving him.

"I'm only helping a friend." He reassured her that he was fine with it. He was wondering if the word 'friend' wasn't too simple to describe his newfound feelings for her, and he was starting to question if there was the slightest chance that she might feel the same... When he was telling Chris how he supposedly felt about Lorelai, he realized that he was, in fact, telling the truth; Lorelai had definitely grown on him although he wasn't completely sure how much yet. He had to organize his feelings and then he would know the truth, and how to classify Lorelai: friend, best friend, love interest? But for now, he was still confused.

"Luke, you're way more than just a friend to me." She smiled happily then gave him a sideways hug.

That only made Luke more confused; what did all that mean? Was she saying he was her buddy or that she wanted him to be more than that? Luke figured he would decide on that later, he couldn't think when she was hugging him so close. It was entirely her intoxicating perfume's fault... He checked his watch to make sure they hadn't missed lunch; it was definitely time to go.

"We should go...or we'll miss lunch." He stood and then offered his hand to help her up; she accepted it.

"We wouldn't want that! I'm starved!" She moved her hand in a circular motion on her belly.

"Right, for a change..." he replied sarcastically.

They started walking when Lorelai suddenly stopped and stared at the lake for a few seconds.

"Isn't it beautiful?" she said in awe. "This's my favorite spot in the whole place!" Her smiled broadened.

They both stood there observing the midday sun reflect on the clear blue waters of the lake, the entire place surrounded by green, it was truly breathtaking.

"It's very nice..." Luke said after he had taken in the beauty of the place; he appreciated nature and thought that it was the only obvious proof that someone above, with highly good taste, had something to do with the Earth's décor.

"We should swim this afternoon..." Lorelai was feeling hot standing under the burning September sun.

"I dunno..." Luke answered um-excitedly; somehow the idea of seeing Lorelai in just a bathing suit didn't seem to help his 'no distractions, need to come to a conclusion' plan.

"Come on... Some like it hot," She nodded in the direction of the hot sun. "Some sweat when the heat's on and some do something about it!"

"I'll think about it." Why he even tried to fight her was still an unsolved mystery to him...

"Yay!" She knew she had won, why did he ever fight against her? "Let's have some lunch!" She grabbed his arm and rushed to the inn; nothing made a Gilmore girl move faster than hunger...

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Luke had made up his mind. One might say it was a truly easy task to come to a conclusion, which he did, but it was no piece of cake to him. He had been utterly confused by his feelings, he couldn't identify and separate what was admiration, friendship and...love. He also feared that the town had had some influence on him, interfering in his final decision. Every time someone told him that a girl liked him, their entire relationship would change; he would be constantly busy searching for signs and ended up focusing on the wrong things. That always led up into him losing the girl and never really knowing if he had liked her in the first place. He didn't want that to happen with Lorelai; he didn't know if he could handle losing her, and he also didn't know if that meant anything, besides the obvious importance she had to his life. The only reason for him to have time alone to really think about the issue was that Lorelai had some inn-related problem and asked him for a couple of hours, fine by him...

He had spent the last few hours reminiscing about all the moments he had ever shared with Lorelai. He found a pattern: he had been happy in all of them, he had been happy because she was around and that was all he needed to know. Of course, he felt physically attracted to her, but what sane man wouldn't? He also knew that his feelings were more permanent than just a simple, and obvious, physical desire... He caught himself wondering when it all began. He couldn't remember the exact moment when it first hit him--the true strength of his feelings--but he had known for a while deep down inside of him; something primal, something ancient, something Darwinian, whispering in his genes: "This is the one."

"Luke!" Lorelai came rushing into the inn's reading room. "There's still sun out, we still have time to go swimming!"

Luke put down the book he had pretended to be reading. He acted surprised by her sudden presence, but the truth was that anytime he shared the same physical area as Lorelai, his radar kicked in, and he knew where she was at all times.

"Let's go then." He managed to do his best _'I'm going against my will'_ face.

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**Did you guys like it? **

**For all the nice readers out there-all over the world-if you have made it this far:**

**THANK YOU!**

**Mocha **


	9. One love a la ‘The Notebook’

**Oi!**

**So…it's my favorite time of the week again…it's update time!**

**I wanna thank all of you people that have been following my story; it's almost done now… I'm kinda sad about that… It's good to have something to focus on so I can forget about the spoilers… **

**Have I mentioned how much I appreciate your feedback?**

**Can't forget about the best beta duo in the world:**

**MrsDionysiousOGall and**

**OzDust**

**Now on with the story… I'm very proud of this chapter…**

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**Chapter 9 – One love a la 'The Notebook' to go!**

A FEW MINUTES LATER— ON THE DRAGONFLY'S GROUNDS

"There might be some other people at the lake besides us. You see, I was so excited about swimming and cooling off that I mentioned the lake to everyone that complained about the heat..." Lorelai explained, and then offered an apologetic smile.

He hadn't liked that idea; he wanted to spend some time alone with her, maybe even discuss his newfound discoveries with her; but he couldn't do that with an audience.

"But since I know you, and I know you don't exactly love the idea of lots of people around you...I figured we could walk a little more and swim further away, nobody walks too much to find a place to swim, any decent place will do. And you can't really blame them; they just want the heat to go away as fast as possible!" She fanned herself; they had been walking along the lake trying to find a deserted spot.

"Thanks. I hate noisy crowds..."

"I know you do." She suddenly stopped. "Here." She looked around, absorbing the place. "What do you think?"

Lorelai had been standing under a lone strand of light, shining diagonally from above; a gentle breeze passed through her, moving her curls. Luke thought she looked...

"Perfect," he answered, amazed.

"I'm glad you like it!" She beamed excitedly.

"How could I not?" Luke was still reeling from his previous thoughts.

She only laughed at his weird behavior.

"Let's swim, I think the heat's messing with your head..." She dropped their towels over a branch of a tree nearby and then removed her sundress, revealing a blue, tiny bikini, and then hung the dress over the branch.

Meanwhile, Luke was foolishly grinning at her; good thing she wasn't paying attention, as he was completely mesmerized by her beauty. He had to close his eyes to regain his composure. He usually could bear to stand in Lorelai's general vicinity, but since he had realized that his feelings toward her were just too overpowering, increasing in intensity every second, he was too afraid that he would do something stupid or say something too obvious and end up tipping everyone off, including Lorelai, about the way he felt. So he just took a deep breath, preparing himself for a whole afternoon with a semi-naked Lorelai. -Gulp- He also undressed himself, jeans and his sweater, and ended up feeling completely naked wearing just his swim trunks; if he hadn't been so busy with his own little world, he would have seen Lorelai staring at him in pretty much the same way that he had been looking at her before.

"Looking good, diner man!" She whistled mockingly and then ran to the border of the lake, where she sat, only putting her feet in the cold, refreshing water.

Luke just stood there, surprised that she had managed to say something like that when he couldn't even move too close to her without acting like a clumsy idiot. Then he heard a _'splash'_ sound and was brought out of his stupor: he saw that Lorelai had dived into the lake; and without even realizing it, he soon joined her.

He dove into that cold water, enjoying the feeling of being surrounded by nothing but water all around, like a blanket protecting his body. He found those feelings relaxing and was glad to take a break from the nervousness that always came when he was near Lorelai, even though it was a good kind of nervousness. He swam as fast as he could until his limbs felt numb and his lungs ached for air, then he sped for the surface and relief flooded him when he breathed in again. He tried to touch the ground with his feet, so he was standing up, but when his feet couldn't touch the ground, he realized how far away from shore he was and from Lorelai too. She was looking at him and when she noticed that he was back on the surface, started waving her arms and called him back; he did as told.

"Aren't you full of energy?" she said as he stopped in front of her, then presented him with a full-toothed smile.

"Just swimming a little..." he weakly explained, was it possible to fidget underwater?

"We should race!" She beamed. "I bet I can beat you!" She was already in a 'before the race' pose.

He only laughed at her excitement and ridiculous pose.

"Lorelai..." Luke said in warning; she only looked at him mischievously.

"Ready?" she challenged him to oppose her.

"I'm not racing you, Lorelai..." How was it possible that the same person that could make him feel like a teenager was also the one that could make him so annoyed?

She looked back at him, raised an eyebrow and dove in, swimming as fast as she could. He sighed with conformity and raced after her, who would believe that he would ever be able to deny her anything..., he had it bad...

Lorelai of course won; not only because she had a head start but also because she could decide where the finish line was. Luke didn't like her convenient rules; he, different from her, thought they weren't fair at all...

"I win! I win!" Lorelai shouted when she reached her imaginary finish line, she had to just create one since they hadn't established one before the race, and nothing suited her better than a finish line when she was starting to get tired.

Luke heard her screaming and swam toward her.

"I win! I win!" She continued crying just to vex Luke, but then she felt two strong hands pull her by the ankles and she was suddenly completely under water.

She tried to scream in protest but that didn't really work underwater. Luke continued his hold on her ankles, pulling her down; she moved her whole body to force him to let her go. He grabbed hold of her arms in response and then came face to face with her, wearing a mocking devilish look.

She was surprised by this new playful side of Luke but still managed an equally devilishly look, crooked her eyebrows and started to playfully 'fight' him; he only tightened his hold on her. She decided to use her free legs and started kicking him away; he quickly held her torso and arms with only one of his arms, and used his now free limb to stop her legs. She was completely trapped.

He wore a look that could be translated as _'Look who won now.'_ She only narrowed her eyes in reply.

Then she suddenly widened her eyes; she had forgotten that she was no 'Aqua man' and needed to breathe. She looked up, indicating to Luke that she needed to go up.

He took them both to the surface, never letting her go.

Once they emerged, Luke loosened his grip on Lorelai and they were able to take a deep breath.

Lorelai started laughing hysterically, uncontrollably and loudly; he looked questioningly at her.

_She just had to be nuts, it was the only plausible explanation. _

"What is it so funny?" He did, as always, not understand her.

She continued laughing and only pointed at him.

"What is it?" He feared there was something on his teeth or something equally bad.

She calmed down. "I didn't really need to breathe yet..." She took a few steps back from him.

It finally dawned on him, after a couple of seconds, that she had pretended she needed to breathe just so he would let go of her, therefore she would win their 'fight'. He looked directly at her; she had her hand in front of her face, hiding her amused smile.

"I win!" Lorelai said in a quiet tone while looking deep into his eyes.

Luke moved slowly and directly to her; he never broke their eye contact. He could see her freckles and that her eyes were the bluest blue he had ever seen. He tried very badly to remember how to breathe...

Luke had never been a religious person; in fact, he wasn't even sure if he followed any. He had some memory of going to church with his parents, but after his mom died, he just never went back again. He guessed that just wasn't his dad's thing... He had also gone through that phase of his life where he would question religion, evolution and heaven, but he had long ago given up on organized religion, although it could be useful... He suddenly found himself asking for divine help at that moment: he just needed to have Lorelai.

Lorelai was completely paralyzed; her best friend seemed to be almost kissing her and she just had no clue what her opinion about it was; she tried to concentrate on re-learning to breathe: her lungs didn't seem to be working.

Luke leaned closer and gently slid his right arm around her waist. The feeling of her cold wet skin was fabulous to the touch; he waited to see if she would start to scream or hit him but since that didn't happen, he took it as a positive sign. He smoothed her damp dark hair with his left hand, then caressed her cheeks, her nose, her lips.

She closed her eyes, overwhelmed by this new feeling; a thousand million thoughts simultaneously running through her mind; none of them seemed to be in English.

He lowered his head, tightened his grip around her waist, and was about to kiss her when he heard the loudest thunderclap he had ever heard. He knew that the louder the noise, the closer the thunder actually was; he tried to remember the speed of sound so he could calculate the exact distance from danger but all rational thought seemed to be away on vacation at the moment... Although he was still able to remember that staying near water was never a good idea in a thunderstorm, he thought that leaving the lake would be a wise decision at the moment; he took a confused Lorelai's hand and ran toward land.

"What are you doing?" Lorelai spoke loudly so she could be heard over the thunderstorm. Was Luke losing his mind? First he was playful, then he almost kissed her...he did almost kiss her, right? And now he was just running like crazy and, worse, pulling her along...

"Thunderstorms." He pointed to the sky; they were already by the tree where they had left their clothes. "They are attracted to water," he handed her the summer dress. "And water is one of the best conductors of electricity." He was already dressed, then pointed to the dress she had been holding; she slipped it over her head and then put on her flip-flops.

"Oh." She was a little scared and surprised; scared because she could have just been _fried_ and surprised because she would never have guessed that Luke would know this stuff.

He linked his fingers through hers, then tried to calm her down by just looking at her; the scary thing is...it worked. She felt much better when Luke looked at her like that.

"It's not too safe under trees either..." Luke explained.

Lorelai widened her eyes, what? Didn't he know they _were_ under a tree?

"It'd be better to just run back to the Inn..." He was trying to look very calm so she wouldn't freak; she also had to know he had had a good reason to not kiss her earlier... Although he didn't know if she would have kissed him back...he would think of that later.

"It's not like we can get any wetter!" She tried to lighten the mood, then giggled. "That was not intended to be a 'dirty'..."

He smiled back and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze before they started the race back to the Inn.

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Michel was on the Dragonfly's porch; he had arranged a pile of towels on the porch swing. He figured that since it was raining, a bunch of people would be returning to the Inn and he wasn't going to tolerate wet people walking around on the wood floor so it could get stains all over it.

He could already see a couple approaching; they were running and still holding hands. How pathetic were those couples that couldn't stay away from each other… As the couple got closer, he recognized Lorelai and Luke's silhouettes. Why had she come with that poor greasy man?

When Lorelai and Luke finally reached the porch, they were completely soaked; they had water coming out of the ying-yang. They were also shivering from the cold, and then Lorelai sneezed; great, now they would be sick…

Michel handed them the towels.

"The Weather Channel did warn that it would rain in this area…" He looked at them with superiority.

"I knew that. I just really like getting soaked by the rain!" Lorelai answered, faking excitement, but then she sneezed again.

"I see… You should take a shower and change into some dry clothes." Michel tried to sound like he could not care less, although his words disagreed with that.

Lorelai was just too shocked to think of any comebacks, so she just said, "Sure."

They dried themselves the best they could, then took off their shoes and went upstairs to their room.

"Let's go, frogman!" Lorelai said, leading the way.

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AT THE DANCE— EIGHTISH P.M.

Two hours had passed since the near-kiss at the lake; neither Lorelai nor Luke had mentioned it again. They had just pretended it had never happened and went back to 'normal'. They managed to go to their room and get ready for the party without exchanging any more words other than those strictly necessary. _'Could you help me with my tie?'_ _'Zip me up, will you?'_ Truth was that both had no idea where the other stood and were too scared to find out; denial seemed like a pleasant idea...

Lorelai didn't know much; she was very confused about this whole thing. But she was certain of three things: Luke had tried to kiss her, she was about to kiss him back and their friendship had just changed forever (she just didn't know into what). She couldn't focus enough to get past that part of her thoughts though…her logic got blurry every time she saw him on the other side of the ballroom and saw how handsome he looked wearing his new dark gray suit…

Luke couldn't stop staring at Lorelai; she was talking with Sandy and others exactly opposite from him on the other side of the room. He had tried to engage himself in conversation with Danny and his buddies, but wasn't successful at all: that deliciously fabulous red dress of hers was incredibly distracting. The dress was made of a silky soft fabric, it had a curve-hugging silhouette and sexy twisted straps outlining the bust line and continuing to the back. Lorelai looked perfect in it.

Lorelai had had enough of Luke's 'stares and no action' behavior; if he wanted something from her, he should just stop being such a chicken and do something about it. She excused herself from the group she had been talking to and started to walk straight towards Luke.

"Hi..." Lorelai said in a low sensuous voice close to Luke's ears.

Luke felt his entire body shiver. "Hi." He wasn't doing a very good job at hiding his nerves, and he knew it.

"Hello guys!" Lorelai politely greeted the other men in the group; they greeted her back. Then she turned to Luke and locked eyes. "Wanna dance?" She slightly tugged at the hem of his jacket.

"Lorelai..." Luke pulled her aside, where people couldn't hear them. "You know I don't dance..."

"You don't?" she asked innocently.

"No," he answered dryly. "And you won't make me do it." He was tired of being bossed around by her; he didn't mind doing her favors but even that had its limits...

"Oh, but I believe that by the power of Grey Skull," she paused for dramatic effect, "I have the power!"

She grinned at his obvious annoyance.

"Jeez!" Luke was surprised at just how immature she could be. "I won't dance." He rested his case.

"K', I'll try again later." She smiled sweetly at him.

"Sure, don't listen to me at all..." he answered ironically.

"Oh, but I heard you. Loud and clear." She mocked him.

Luke never knew if he wanted to punch her or kiss her; either way, he was not going to be convinced into dancing. He hated dancing in crowded places; he felt as if everyone would be staring at him then the room would appear to close in on him and he would have a not-so-attractive hyperventilation attack.

Lorelai saw that Chris was walking their way, so she stepped closer to Luke and put his arm around her hip; he looked surprised at her and she nodded toward Chris in explanation.

Luke had thought that she was still trying to make him dance but then he saw Christopher and it all made sense. He was actually enjoying their lie; he got to find out how her red dress felt to the touch, didn't he? And he had been dying to find that out...

"Hi, having fun?" Chris asked them after he stopped in front of them.

"Lots." Luke mocked, trying to match his excited tone; what was he so happy about?

Lorelai gave him a discreet nudge in the ribs, although she had thought that Luke's response was a little funny...

"Where's Mindy?" Lorelai glanced around, looking for his girlfriend.

"Oh, she's sitting over there." Chris pointed at a table where Mindy sat on her own.

They exchanged smiles and waves.

"Is she grounded?" Lorelai asked in a conspiratorial whisper.

"No." Chris laughed at her comment. "We had to run back to the Inn once the storm started, and when we were almost here, she slipped and hurt her foot."

"Oh." Luke was glad that neither of them had gotten hurt when they ran in the rain.

"But she's fine other than that?" Lorelai asked, concerned.

"Yeah, I just don't think I'll be dancing tonight." Chris smiled shyly.

"I know how you feel." He looked at her questioningly. "Luke won't dance with me either..." She looked at Luke and pouted; Chris laughed at them.

"Since we're both orphaned dancers..." Chris smiled charmingly. "We could dance together?" He looked deep into her eyes.

Luke tightened his grip on her, a typical male protecting his territory ritual. He didn't like what was going on. Chris was clearly crossing some boundaries here...

Lorelai nodded affirmatively to Chris; if Luke didn't want to dance with her, she would be sure to show him what he was missing.

Chris had noticed Luke's protective arm around Lorelai and even though she had already accepted a dance with him, he thought it would be better for his physical integrity if he asked Luke too. "But only if it's all right with your man." He played it cool.

"My man's fine with it." Lorelai smiled then removed Luke's arm from her. She grinned at Luke, "I'll be back!"

They moved the few steps to the dance floor and Chris offered his hand to her, she simpered back. They moved closer and started to slowly sway to the music.

Luke couldn't stand watching Chris holding Lorelai so close and since he couldn't yank her away from his evil grip, he resigned himself to grabbing a beer; that would occupy him a bit. When he came back, now holding his bottle, he saw that they were still dancing together, and every time he felt the urge to kill Chris, he would take a big gulp from his bottle; soon it was empty. He decided to get another one; he didn't think he could control himself otherwise. The rising number of bottles might have had something to do with the fact that soon he found himself talking, flirting even, with a woman he'd never seen before in his life; the other reason was the way Chris's filthy hands were roaming on Lorelai's back.

Lorelai had been having a blast with Chris, but she figured that after half a dozen songs, Luke would have already gotten her point and have regretted not dancing with her. But when she searched the room for a regretful-looking Luke, she came up with nothing. Instead, she was surprised with a scene of Luke flirting with _Miranda_ nearby. That's not how this was supposed to go; he was supposed to want to dance with her, not turn her down for the queen of plastic surgery... So that's why she didn't hesitate one bit when a good-looking man offered her a martini and guided her to the dance floor; if Luke could have fun without her...well, so could she!

Luke didn't pay attention to one word coming out of that stranger's mouth; he had been too busy observing Lorelai's every move to focus on anything else. He saw when Lorelai looked for him and how she didn't seem pleased when she finally saw him with the stranger; he saw that guy take her back to the dance floor and how he talked into her ear... Luke remembered the guy from the poker game, he was one of the men that said his 'wife' was hot, and now he was hitting on her... He physically flinched when the guy touched Lorelai's bare back; he had had enough.

Luke suddenly abandoned the woman he had been flirting with and just walked straight to Lorelai and quickly separated her from the poker game perve; she looked at him, perplexed. He pulled her by the hand.

"What are you doing?" she asked him, her eyes full of fire; she was mad.

"That guy's a perve!" He still had a hold on her hand.

"We were dancing! Just dancing, not like _some_ other people that will flirt with anyone!" Lorelai's eyes burned into his, then she tried to shake free from his grasp.

"I wasn't flirting with anyone!" He matched her shouts, who did she think she was to criticize him?

"Oh, please!" She managed to free herself from him and stormed off to the room.

"Oh shit!" Luke ran after her after realizing what he had done. He knew he had just lowered his chances with her and that had not been his plan for tonight...

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Did you guys like it?

For all the nice readers out there-all over the world-if you have made it this far:

THANK YOU!

Mocha


	10. Ormai il baccio!

**Hello!**

**Happy Easter! (to everyone that celebrate it, of course!) **

**In my country, we trade chocolate on Easter, so I don't have to tell you that that's one of my favorite holidays of the year! **

**I need to apologize for my late-late-late update…I'm sorry… I don't have an Easter brake here…so I have no time for college stuff, work and yadda yadda yadda… I can't seem to find the time to finish this fic… oh but I will! Fear no more!**

**I continue to appreciate your reviews and I still love my wonderful betas!**

**Now on with the story… **

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Previously on RRATPYL: (A/N: since you probably don't remember it anymore…)

_Luke suddenly abandoned the woman he had been flirting with and just walked straight to Lorelai and quickly separated her from the poker game perve; she looked at him, perplexed. He pulled her by the hand._

"What are you doing?" she asked him, her eyes full of fire; she was mad.

"That guy's a perve!" He still had a hold on her hand.

"We were dancing! Just dancing, not like some other people that will flirt with anyone!" Lorelai's eyes burned into his, then she tried to shake free from his grasp.

"I wasn't flirting with anyone!" He matched her shouts, who did she think she was to criticize him?

"Oh, please!" She managed to free herself from him and stormed off to the room.

"Oh shit!" Luke ran after her after realizing what he had done. He knew he had just lowered his chances with her and that had not been his plan for tonight...

**Chapter 10 - Ormai il baccio!**

Lorelai had run directly outside, she didn't want to be in any place that had more than...well, her; she wanted to be alone and she could really use the fresh air.

The air still smelled like rain even though it had stopped raining a couple of hours ago, the smell of wet grass was homey as she walked in the back part of the Inn thinking about how unpredictable this whole weekend had been for her... The 'almost kiss' in the lake had sparked something inside her, it had awaken those romantic thoughts related to Luke from it's obviously _too_ long of a rest.

She had known that she liked him; she just chose to lay that knowledge on somewhere in the very back of her mind to never be touched again, until today...that is.

She had followed a lifelong philosophy of denial, she firmly believed that she could make anything go away by convincing herself that it had never happened in the first place, why worry with unpleasantness when you could just pretend they don't exist? That was her motto, until this one came and bit her in the ass... This issue was beyond denial, this issue was damn confusing. She was never the girl who didn't know what she wanted; she had always had very clear in her mind every decision she ever made as being the right one. And now she couldn't even tell what her current thoughts were...she knew she was furious and that was the extent of it...she was fuming with anger.

Luke had followed her through the back door and into the night, he observed how she walked a patch and then suddenly stopped and stared at the stars, obviously thinking. He had never felt so scared in his whole life, not even when he was mugged in New York City at the age of eighteen, how could someone as sweet and beautiful as Lorelai inflict so much fear in him? And he just ignored the little annoying voice in his head that answered that it was because she was the only one that could either make him the happiest man on earth or could break his heart permanently; everything he had ever wondered about their relationship could be answered right now by her, all he had to do was ask. If only it was that easy...

He took a deep 'way-too-long' encouraging breath and prayed for all gods in every religion to help him out in this one, he would never curse again, or lie, or...drink! Wait that was going a little too far, what if they did end up together, he would need to drink to celebrate... Scratch the drinking add some...social skills, he would be nicer to people around town; that was it. That was definitely a sacrifice to him... He moved closer to where she was standing, but not too close as if he was just at a point before crossing some imaginary boundary line.

"Sorry." He started tentatively; she didn't turn to look at him or say anything. "Lorelai... I'm sorry I was such a jerk back there, I shouldn't have behaved like that...like we were something we aren't, that stuff does not concern me, I know." He was already looking at his feet, too scared to see any reaction she might be having.

"Behaved like what?" She turned around, and even though he wasn't looking he could hear her anger. "Like what? Huh, Luke?"

Luke looked up to encounter Lorelai's firing eyes making a whole into his skull.

That could not be a good thing.

"Something we aren't, right? And what exactly is that?" She questioned him, she hugged herself as a protective mechanism, like that would stop her from hurting...

"I..." He tried to come up with a good answer but the pressure was killing him and did she have to look so damn hot tonight?

"What happened? Cat ate your tongue?" She had a mixed look, mocking and anger, that was it.

"I'm trying to collect my thoughts! Unlike you, I lack verbal skills!" He tried to stay calm through her angry stare. "And you know it!"

That was true, Lorelai had known him long enough to understand that this was standard procedure when it came to talking to Luke Danes, he needed his time to form his thoughts and then he would say them out loud. So she stayed quiet until then.

"It was killing me to see you dance with that guy, it has always killed me whenever I see you around with any of those morons. They are never good enough for you!" Luke stopped to take in her face, she seemed somewhat less mad and more shocked now, progress had been made. "That _perve _was trying to touch you, he kept running his fingers through your back and…he told me you were hot but I never thought he would actually hit on you, he thought we were married for Christ sake, doesn't anyone respects that anymore?"

"That didn't seem to stop _you_ from flirting with that silicone-ed woman!" As soon as Lorelai said it, she regretted; she quickly covered her mouth.

Luke was surprised to be interrupted, even more surprised to hear that.

"You were...jealous...of me?" Luke gave her an archaic smile, and then moved forward a bit, he had just decided they were too far away.

"I..." She would never ever under any circumstances admit any jealousy toward him...that was outrageous! "You were jealous first!" She yelled; yep, throw the ball to the other side of the court...that's the Gilmore way.

"I was a little...uh...angry at that pervert and Chris and any other guy that wasn't blind to see how beautiful you're tonight...but I was never jealous..." Luke didn't want to be the first to admit anything, why did he have to take the initiative?

"Sure..." It was her turn to smile slightly at his uncomfortable ness... "Why would you be angry? Did they do anything to you?" She eyed him firmly; he tried to avert her eyes.

Luke moved so now he was standing a palm length from Lorelai, he had gathered some courage from deep down, courage that he never knew he possessed and was about to use it...

"I liked you from the minute I laid my eyes on you," he gently picked her hands up from her side. "In the beginning I thought you were just incredibly beautiful..." He locked eyes with her. "And annoying." She smiled at that. "Then you became my most important friend and I don't think I could ever live without you..."

Lorelai thought he was finished, but when she started to talk, he put a finger on her lips to stop her, call her crazy, but she almost started talking again so he would stop her, using the same method...

"I'm afraid you'll reject me, but I'm even more afraid of losing you as the most reliable person in my life." He finished still looking into her crystal blue eyes.

Suddenly Lorelai gave him the broadest smile in the world, like she had finally registered what he had said, and how cute Luke looked when he was proclaiming his love...

"My thoughts exactly." She wanted to make it completely sure to Luke that she shared his feelings; Luke's silly smile matched hers perfectly.

Luke slid his arm around her waist, pulling her incredibly close; his other arm went around her shoulders, his fingers lightly brushing her neck. He looked up and they exchanged coy smiles, their eyes locked, and for the first time ever they seem to have an understanding about staring at each other, no one would rush this moment. That moment became a longer moment and suddenly changed into a very long moment, so long that it couldn't be explained where was all that time coming from; of course Lorelai and Luke never noticed that, they were both too busy getting lost in each other's eyes.

Luke was the first to break eye contact; he was already on a roll at being the first to do everything, so he figured he should make it a tradition... He couldn't believe Lorelai hadn't screamed yet, but she had said that she liked him...he felt silly, like a teenager, it had been a while since he enjoyed such a enormous rush of fantastic feelings flow through him; he was probably still smiling like a complete fool...

He lowered his head and his mouth brushed just below Lorelai's earlobe; she felt like butterflies were practicing acrobatics in her stomach, she moaned almost unnoticeably.

Luke smiled at that, he was so happy he would probably agree with anything anyone asked him to do, good thing the town didn't know what was happening... Of course Lorelai knew it, and as soon as she discovered that she had an even bigger power over him...well, he was doomed. But truth was that he liked being doomed, because it was with Lorelai.

"Have I told you that you look beautiful?" Luke asked in a whisper next to her ear, she shook her head 'no', because for the first time she couldn't find her words.

"No." Lorelai managed to say it out loud after recovering from some of the overpowering sensations Luke could bring up on her by just touching...

Luke kissed the curve of her ear. "Well, you do." He was still talking in a lower sexy voice. "You're beautiful." He kissed her cheek and their eyes met again; she gave him a warm smile.

"You just want me to kiss you..." She narrowed her eyes at him, feigning to be outraged.

"That could be it." He smiled that perfect 'Luke's smile' that was used rarely, but she knew that she would be soon enjoying it on daily basis.

They locked eyes for a heartbeat, and Lorelai kissed him; maybe Luke wouldn't have to be the only one to initiate their 'firsts' everything... Lorelai's mouth was gentle, the kiss lingered; both trying to communicate their feelings through that perfect kiss.

Soon after they broke it Luke started the second kiss.

See, they were already in a balanced relationship. Their tongues touched, and the kiss deepened, both moaned at the contact.

His hands were at her waist and at her bare back pressing her into him.

Her hands were at his neck playing with his hair, then roaming through his back feeling his muscles; as their wonderful kiss progressed they were both getting more and more comfortable with each other. Lorelai moved her exploration a little further down, to his waist then to his butt, she settled into leaving her hands on his back pockets.

Luke felt her hand in his..._pockets_.

"Your hands are on my ass," he said as they broke the kiss.

"Are you sure?" She looked innocently at him, hands still on his back pockets.

"Well, someone's hands are on my ass." He played along.

"Guess their mine then," She smiled sweetly, then she applied pressure on his...back pockets.

"Lorelai..." He said warningly. "Someone could see us..."

"And do what?" She looked directly at his eyes when she pressed his butt again, he faked being serious. "It's not against the law, I don't know any laws that say you can't grab your boyfriend's butt behind an Inn on a summer night, do you?" She looked up to find Luke staring at her with a clear expression; she was hoping he would get annoyed...

"Luke?" Lorelai waved her hands in front of his face to wake him from his out of the body experience.

"Yeah?" He seemed to refocus on her.

"Are you ok?" Lorelai had to admit she was a little concerned about his sudden blank look.

"I'm more than ok," he hugged her again, holding her close and rested his cheek on her head. "I'm happy."

"Good." She enjoyed the feeling of proximity.

"You didn't even realize it, did you?" He looked down at her.

"What?" She asked buried in his chest, she liked the feeling of being totally surrounded by Luke...

"You...called me..."-Gulp- "Your boyfriend..." He tried not to show excitement on his voice, maybe she hadn't meant it...she hadn't been pinning for him, it was the other way around so, this was kind of new to her, why would she want to have a serious relationship with him right from the start?

"I know." She smiled, still resting her head on his chest.

"You do?" He made her look at him by taking her chin, he seemed surprised; he should have been able to handle better the surprises by now, he had had so many today...maybe he would even start appreciating surprises...

Nope, there still wasn't a chance of that happening.

She shook her head 'yes', "I said it on purpose, it was all premeditated..." She lowered her voice as if it was a secret. "I wanted to know how you felt about the word..." She gave him a meaningful look.

"I like the word," Luke squeezed her tight. "I could live with the word, but I don't want you to over use it..." He said as a warning, he knew how annoying she could be, not that he didn't like it...

"Fully understood, my handsome _boyfriend_!" She saluted him, army style; then laughed.

"Lorelai..." He should've known she would do that...

"Yes, boyfriend?" She smiled sweetly.

Luke had to do something to stop her; otherwise she would go on indefinitely... Now, he knew what to do if he was at the diner, he would give her some coffee, that was pretty easy...but there was no coffee outside. So Luke, wisest man ever, did his new favorite thing, he kissed her passionately. Both soon forgot what they had been talking about... Well, actually they forgot everything and the only thing that mattered was that very cheesy moment they were sharing.

"This's nice..." Lorelai commented as soon as they broke the kiss, her eyes were glowing and she had a huge smile plastered on her face.

"Yeah..."Luke hugged her closer then took in her perfume; his hands were resting on her bare back, he had spent the whole night wondering how it would be to touch her and now he was able to feel the soft skin under his fingertips.

Luke felt her shiver when a cool breeze of air passed them, maybe she was cold... She had been wearing only that thin piece of fabric -gulp- while he had a suit on, a summer suit, but still, it had a jacket and pants... He was protected from cold, she was not. Luke would never understand woman's choice of wardrobe, never matching the weather, not that he was complaining about her red dress... No, no, he was utterly satisfied with her outfit...

"Let me warm you." Luke said taking off his jacket.

"Ohhh, you naughty, naughty boy!" Lorelai hit him playfully, pretending to take offense on his remark; then laughed at his _'oh, jeez'_ face.

Luke chose to ignore how amused she seemed by annoying him. He held his jacket by its shoulders, offering her to put it on and since she was, in fact, feeling pretty cold she took his offer and slid the huge jacket on.

Lorelai was comparing their big difference in arm length, by the amount of fabric hanging loose beyond her hands, and then she decided to grab his hand and examine it for a while. She had been very concentrated on memorizing every line on his hands, she wished she could read his future, but that, unfortunately, was way far-off of her skills... So she was really caught by surprise when she felt his other hand pull her close by the collar of 'his' jacket.

She looked up at him, still holding his hand and started to caress it, without ever breaking their gaze. She gently kissed each one of his fingers, after one last kiss on his palm she guided his hand to her waist then to her bare back under the jacket; he gathered her into him, ending the minuscule gap that was between them. They kissed again and even though it was a little more comfortable each time, it never seized to amaze them, how were they able to ignore such strong obvious attraction for so long?

They ended the kiss with happy smiles on their faces; Lorelai gave him a sweet kiss on the cheek and turned around on his embrace. Now, they were both looking at the stars contemplating them, both enjoying the moment, the company and the happy thoughts running through their minds.

Luke's arms were around her waist, his cheek rested on her head, inhaling her sweet perfume. They held each other like that for a while in silence, that is until Lorelai felt sick of the silence and started humming the _'X files' _theme song.

"The truth is out there." She said pointing to the starlit sky.

"What?"

"The. Truth. Is. Out. There!" She explained slowly, still pointing to the sky.

"The truth's on the moon?" He asked confused

"No," she laughed at his obliviousness. "It's from the 'X-files'." She waited from recognition from him, it never came.

"You know that show with the E.T.s and yummy agent Mulder and sidekick Dana Scully." She tried to further explain but still had no success. "They even made a movie, with the cornfields, and the bees and frozen people…" She turned slightly to see his dumbfounded face. "I give up; I can't have a relationship with someone that never watched a classical show like that…" She mocked disappointment.

Luke only smiled in response, how did he ever fall for a crazy person? It must have been the eyes…the eyes that were mockingly staring back at him.

They heard a noise and both jerked their heads at the direction of the Inn, soon they realized it wasn't actually a noise but it was the beginning of a song, the live band had just taken over the DJ's job.

The sound of a soft melody traveled out of the building to reach the couple's ears, it was one of those old classic perfect love songs that made it impossible to anyone not dance, swing or hum.

Luke felt, for the first time in his life, appealed to dance; he could not tell if that feeling originated from the complex harmony of the song or if it was the strong persuasive power emanating from the woman in front of him. If he had to guess, he would guess that it was possibly a mixture of both.

"Would you dance with me?" Luke spoke in a soft tone, suddenly missing the strength of his speech.

Lorelai laid her hands around his neck, smiled then nodded affirmatively.

"_L is for the way you look at me,_

_O is for the only one I see,_

_V is very very extraordinary,_

_E is even more than anyone that you adore and"_

Luke held her close and they started to swing to the smooth rhythm of Nat King Cole lyric about unstoppable perfect love.

"_Love is all that I can give to you,_

_Love is more than just a game for two,_

_Two in love can make it ,_

_Take my heart yet please don't break it,_

_Love was made for me and you."_

"I thought you didn't dance..." Lorelai said impressed by Luke's transformation from dance challenged to grooving a la Travolta's man, ok, maybe he wasn't as good as Travolta, but he was pretty good and she couldn't think why he hadn't danced with her before.

"I only dance with my girlfriend." He certainly knew how to make a girl's heart skip a beat...

"_Love was made for me and you._

_Love was made for me and you."_

They exchanged grins at the lyrics, they had officially become a 'Cheesy Couples of America' members, t-shirts and membership cards would arrive soon.

The day had been eventful, and although they weren't thrilled, both were really tired; maybe it was time to sleep...in the same room, in the same bed... Ok, now they seemed suddenly excited to go to their room, sleep almost forgotten, wonder why...

They kissed trough the end of the song, breaking it when a new one started.

"I'm feeling sleepy..." Lorelai looked meaningfully at her new significant other.

Luke yawned, "You're right, I feel like sleeping..." He faked sleepiness, but laughed lightly when she hit him.

"Oh, you know what I mean..." Lorelai tenderly kissed his neck, she then touched her tongue to the place she had just kissed; and then she kissed again.

Luke felt like he could collapse to the grass at any moment.

He slowly slid his hands from her belly to the bare skin of her back, still under his jacket, his palms burned her skin.

Lorelai decided they had tortured each other enough and that it was time for some real action. She tugged at his collar and forced him to move toward the Inn, she was able to avoid his hungry hands until they reached their room and then all hell broke lose.

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As soon as the door of their room was slammed close and they were free from any prying curious eyes; Luke backed Lorelai against the door and leaned into her. His legs slid between hers, his lips brushed lightly across hers.

"Do you want to do this?" Luke asked to be completely sure that this would not be one of those things she would later classify as a mistake.

He moved even closer to her and desire skittered through her stomach and burned low in her belly.

"Oh, I definitely want this." She answered in a low raspy voice; her eyes were darker full of lust.

He thought that this was the time he would wake up, but after a few seconds he convinced himself that his imagination would never affect him like this, his pupils dilated and he thought that maybe his heart would jump off of his chest at any moment.

Lorelai could feel his warm breath on her lips; his face was only a few inches away. She gave him a half smile before she started the next kiss. The kiss deepened, became more demanding, more intimate; and both could swear they had never felt so good.

Lorelai's hand was splayed over his chest, she felt the toned muscles under her hands, felt his heart beating on her fingertips.

Their hearts were beating at the same rhythm, both literately and metaphorically.

Luke broke from the kiss and pushed Lorelai closer to the bed, then he pulled her into him, reached behind her back, and seductively slid the zipper down from her dress.

The dress dropped from Lorelai's shoulder and pooled at her feet, she stepped out of the red bundle of fabric and kicked it away; her face was showing a sexy smile.

Luke was mesmerized by the scene in front of him; Lorelai was standing still with only a pair of red high heeled shoes and Victoria Secret's finest barely-there string bikinis. At that moment he felt like the happiest man in the universe, he had the woman he had always dreamed of, what else could he need?

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Lorelai woke up feeling content, happy in a way she never felt before, and if she ever did, it was so long ago that she couldn't remember it any more. She opened her eyes to see the one responsible for all the wonderful feelings that were now part of her, Luke was pressed next to her, holding her protectively to him. Looking at him made the memories of the night before come as a train through her mind; if this was what it felt to have a relationship with Luke she was ready for a long future. She felt Luke move then open his eyes slightly.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty." She kissed his cheek and hugged him closer.

"Morning." Luke kissed the top of her head. "What time is it?"

"I dunno." Lorelai answered sleepily, she wasn't fully awake yet. "You don't suppose we missed breakfast, do you?" She looked worried at him.

He only laughed at her.

"Hey," she acted offense. "I burned a whole lot of calories last night, how am I going to have any energy left if I don't eat my breakfast?"

He tried to act serious, "Right, that's the most important meal of the day."

"I know, and that's why I try having it at least three times a day." She simpered at him.

He kissed her forehead in response; there was no answer to her crazy talk...

They were quiet for a moment, both enjoying each other's presence and, of course, contemplating their new fate together.

Then Luke started to kiss her jaw, then her cheeks, the tip of her nose, and finally her mouth. Every kiss they shared was magical, unique, perfect and made them think that maybe they had finally, after a long and bumpy road, found the one they were meant to be with.

"So, I was thinking," Lorelai started talking as soon as they broke the kiss. "If we count this weekend as the beginning of our...relationship, then our anniversaries will always be on a holiday, isn't it great?" She beamed at him.

Luke couldn't tell if she was being serious or just teasing him.

"Why?" He asked unsurely.

"Because we don't have to work," She answered in a 'duh' tone. "And then we'll have lots of time together!"

"I work on holidays." He stated what he was sure she already knew.

"You're not working now..." She looked innocently at him, and then she started to play with his chest hair.

"People always have to eat." He tried to reason with her, but he felt as crazy as Lorelai trying to do so.

"Those bastards..."

"The diner opens on holidays" He tried to use the direct approach.

"Not anymore..." She smiled mischievously at him; then climbed on top of him and started to plant sweet lingering kisses all the way down to...

Luke was totally at lost, he suddenly couldn't think of any reasons to disagree with her, then he heard himself moaning her name and he gave up on ever winning any discussions with her again, but it was all worth it.

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**So, did you guys like it? **

**I hope so; I mean after all the time I took to update and all…**

**For all the nice readers out there-all over the world-if you have made it this far:**

THANK YOU!

Mocha


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